Bone for Bone
by Secunder
Summary: After discovering his family murdered, Sakumo finds himself living with the Senju Clan and a distant father he never knew about. Tobirama has his own set of challenges as he struggles to come to terms with fatherhood and past mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Again!" His grandfather demanded, ignoring the sweat on the youth's brow. Sakumo took in a long greedy gulp of air, forcing his trembling muscles to form the necessary hand signs. As he felt the rush of chakra speed through his body, he clawed his hands into the ground, directing long tendrils of lightning towards the trunk of a great oak. The ancient wood split with a thunderous crack and Sakumo rose wearily to his feet.

The old nin, Hibiki, stared with smug satisfaction at the elegant destruction that lay before him.

"Good," he said, turning his attention to the young boy. "I greatly feared you would turn out to be a wishy-washy water user like your father, but you are a lightning wielder through and through. A true Hatake."

Sakumo carefully picked out the compliment from his grandfather's disparaging remark with a practiced patience. If he had the strength he might have even puffed out his chest a little, but they had begun practicing well before dawn and the sun was nearly reaching the top of the trees now. The old man yawned signaling the end of the lesson and the beginning of his mid-morning nap. Silently they shuffled from their carefully hidden practice ground to the open plain of the wheat fields dotted with workers.

Hibiki gave a tired sigh and Sakumo braced himself for the long oration that always followed.

"We were once a great clan, Sakumo. I do not know what happened. How did great warriors become reduced to poor farmers?"

Sakumo continued walking in silence, knowing his grandfather did not expect an answer.

"There were once wars to fight, boy! I fought with my father and uncles and brothers in battles that would make your blood sing. We commanded respect from farmers, we did not become them! We were wolves among sheep. And do you know what changed?"

Sakumo stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets, knowing his grandfather would not appreciate his monologue being interrupted.

The old man grimaced, the wrinkles plunging deeper down his jowls. "A damn thing called _peace_ came to this country."

Sakumo sighed. "You better not let Mom hear you say that. She'll hit you over the head with her soup ladle again."

Hibiki scowled, rubbing the side of his baldhead in remembrance. "If ever there was a woman meant to be a ninja…"

"Is that why you don't like the shinobi village?"

The old man made a gruff noise of disgust. "That village won't amount to much, you mark my words. The Senju and Uchiha will be back at each other's throats in no time. Serves them right thinking they can change the old ways."

"I'm gonna see it someday," Sakumo quietly declared, staring out over the wide expanse of wheat fields, but a quick cuff to his ear returned his attention to the old man.

"You'll do no such thing, young pup!" Hibiki growled, his large white eyebrows knitted together in anger. "There will be no wandering in this family. This is the land where your ancestors lie buried and it will always be the seat of the Hatake clan."

"Yeah okay," he said sheepishly, rubbing the developing bump on his head. "But I'm not all Hatake am I, Gramps."

"I'll have none of that talk." The old man said with a sniff, his large nose rising high into the air. "I have chosen to ignore that wanderer's blood in you and you should too."

"But you said he was a shinobi," Sakumo protested.

"A shinobi with no clan," Hibiki snorted dismissively. "He was hardly better then a common assassin and stupid enough to have almost have gotten himself killed. My life is filled with many regrets boy, but by Kami my greatest is letting your mother rescue that scoundrel in the first place."

Sakumo felt his face grow hot. The old man had mentioned his dislike of his father before, but rarely so loudly. He might have bit out a response, but they were approaching their small farmhouse and he did not wish for his mother to hear.

The kitchen was warm and welcoming when they entered with his mother sitting neatly at the fire drying jasmine over the hearth. Her low voice lifted and fell as she sang a whispering ditty to the old dog dozing at her side. It was a comforting scene quickly diminished by his grandfather's demand for a cup of tea before his nap.

As his mother poured tea, Sakumo dug into a cold breakfast under the vigilant eye of their little farm dog, Tomo.

"Father did you hear anyone out by the window last night?" His mother asked, setting the teapot down on the rickety old table. "Something woke Tomo up last night."

Tomo licked his greying chops in response to his name or more likely drooling over Sakumo's breakfast.

"That must have been quite an accomplishment," Sakumo muttered between a mouth full of rice. It usually took nothing short of a tsunami to wake the little rat. Tomo gave an indignant snort, as if he actually understood and took umbrage with Sakumo's snide comment.

"Just a fox sniffing out the chickens I imagine," Hibiki said, slurping down his cup of tea.

"I'm not so sure…" She said, staring out the window as if she expected to hear the strange noise again. "I could have sworn I saw a tall shadow."

Hibiki gave a dismissive snort. "Thieves know better then to come around these parts, Kana—nothing to steal here but dirt."

His mother did not look reassured. Sakumo guiltily kept his head down, knowing he was a heavy sleeper. According to his grandfather this shortened a shinobi's life span by half, but up to this point there had never been much to be alert for except the occasional fox.

With little ceremony Hibiki left for his favorite napping spot on the porch muttering under his breath of women and active imaginations. His mother returned to her task of crushing herbs together, releasing a calming scent of jasmine into the air.

"How is your training going, Saku?" She asked, her eyes remaining focused on the crushed plants between the stones. He sat still for a moment, too surprised to answer.

She had rarely ever asked about his training before.

"Grandfather says I have a very strong lightning affinity." He said. "Not like father." He watched her carefully, waiting for a reaction. His father was so rarely mentioned in their home that it held the weight of a cataclysmic event.

But she merely reached down to scratch Tomo behind his long ear, her dark bangs falling delicately over her eyes.

"Does that bother you?" She asked finally, her dark eyes lifting to meet his own.

He shrugged. It felt too childish to tell her exactly how much it did. She pulled Tomo onto her lap, her pale lips curled into a thoughtful smile.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Saku. You're like him in every other way."

Sakumo blinked in disbelief. "I am?"

She nodded slowly, choosing her next words carefully. "In the short time he was here I always marveled at how still he could be. Then I realized that beneath the cool stillness was nothing but movement. You are exactly the same. Always still, but with a mind always moving."

He leaned forward against the table eager to hear more.

"And of course with that hair you could practically pass as his clone," she laughed, ruffling his feathery white spikes between her fingers.

"Really?" He asked excitedly. She nodded.

"If you didn't have my eyes no one would ever believe you were my son."

"What color were his?"

"Dry red… Like old blood."

He thought this over for a moment. "Do you think I will ever get to meet him?"

Returning Tomo to the ground, despite his whining protest, his mother leaned over to a floorboard where Sakumo knew she hid their most precious belongings. Ignoring the ancient clan banner with the wolf kanji, her dead brother's armor and her mother's wedding kimono, she pulled out a small item carefully wrapped in cloth.

Silently she tucked her knees beneath her on the zabuton as she unfolded the pale cloth to reveal a badly scratched happuri-styled forehead protector. Wordlessly she offered it to Sakumo, who took it gently into his hands turning it over to read the kanji.

 _Senju_

Sakumo looked up in surprise. "Was this…?"

She nodded, her dark eyes beginning to shimmer in the morning light.

"You know about the Senju clan is don't you?" She asked, her voice hardly louder then a whisper.

"Sure," he said. "The clan with a thousand skills!"

"And a thousand enemies, Saku." She said, lifting the forehead protector from his hands and returning it to the protective folds of the cloth.

"But if my father is from the Senju clan, he could protect us!" He protested, remembering tales from the village of the powerful Senju brothers. Surely his father must be just as strong.

"I'm not willing to take that chance, Sakumo," she said, her voice suddenly sharp and her eyes growing hard as flint. "I've let your grandfather train you for simple defense but I will not have you be a part of that world."

"You don't think I'm a shinobi?" He asked, unexpectedly hurt.

"No." She said her words uncharacteristically clipped. "A shinobi is a killer. You're a child, Sakumo."

"I can be both," he growled, an unfamiliar sense of anger rising in his chest.

"I don't want you to be!" She snapped, making Tomo give a nervous growl. "And that is why it is best your father is not in our lives. He walks a path of death and I would not have you be a casualty."

Sakumo leapt to his feet. "You're just being selfish. You want to keep me here so I can be a boring farmer who never does anything important with his life!"

"Sakumo!" She gasped. "I never…"

But he wasn't finished. "Did you drive him out because he was a shinobi? Does he even know I exist?"

His mother's gaze was suddenly as cold as ice and when she spoke it was in a flat lifeless tone. "We are done speaking of this, Sakumo."

Sakumo could not sleep that night with his head turning over with thoughts of guilt and anger. Staring up at the drooping ceiling, he tried to let the loud snores of his grandfather lull him to sleep.

His eyes were half closed when an idea struck him. Reaching out with his chakra, he made sure his mother was asleep in her room with Tomo. It would be careless to be caught.

Sneaking to the false floorboard in the middle of the room, he paused before lifting it up, double checking to ensure the house was fast asleep. Pushing aside the banner and armor, he pulled out what he was looking for. The forehead protector winked in the moonlight, as if silently approving of Sakumo sneaking around to steal it away.

The happuri moved to his head out of impulse, but it immediately slipped off, too big for his head. Quick reflexes allowed him to catch it before it clattered to the floor. He let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

But then a shadow appeared and he instantly tensed before running to the window to catch the culprit. He was met with only shadows of bare trees and the content cooing of undisturbed chickens.

Perhaps it would be better if he went to bed before he gave himself a heart attack. Without thinking, he brought his father's happuri with him to bed, setting it beside his mat before falling asleep contentedly.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

It was bitterly cold in their small village during the early days of spring, but that did not keep the inhabitants from the morning market. Like their founding ancestors they trudged through the bracing wind and melting snow to the center of town where the fishermen and farmer's showcased their meager wares. As Sakumo nuzzled his nose deeper into the scarf his mother had made, he imagined the villagers would maintain the monotonous routine even if the sky were falling over their weary, grey heads.

His mother walked several paces in front of him, the heavy basket at her side having little effect on her graceful gate. Tomo waddled loyally at her side, his little tail curled in a perfect circle.

A perfect target.

He had been meaning to give the old dog a good kick after he discovered it had chewed a hole into his only pair of shoes that morning.

His mother had invited him to walk with her as a peace offering for the night before and the argument was soon forgotten.

His mother noticed he was lagging and turned, her dark eyes sharp and bright from the cold wind. "Don't dawdle Sakumo. The doctor doesn't like to wait for his—"

Not quick enough to warn her, his mother had walked straight into a tall man wrapped in a heavy, dark cloak.

"Excuse me," she apologized, her surprised breath rising coolly between them. A pale hand pulled the hood slowly back, revealing a bald man with an amiable smile If it were not for the two angry scars forming an X on his right cheek, Sakumo might have thought he was a wandering monk.

"It's all right," he assured her. "I was just as distracted. For a village so small it's hard to find the market here."

"I'm afraid you're going the wrong way," she smiled politely as he looked suddenly crestfallen at his mistake. "It's toward the center of town."

"Of course," he said his smile turning almost dopey. Sakumo watched him cautiously, an uneasy feeling developing in the pit of his stomach. "How foolish of me."

Tomo began to growl at his mother's side, the grey scruff of his neck bristling. His beady black eyes were fixed with vicious intent on the stranger as he bared his dull yellow teeth. Perhaps Tomo thought that he cut an impressive figure, but Sakumo simply had to bite back a laugh at the ridiculous looking pug.

"It would appear I have made a friend and an enemy today," the stranger observed, understandably unfazed by the little pug. "Thank you for the kind directions madam I will leave you and your escorts to it." He left with the similar brisk pace he had bumped into his mother and she watched him leave with a distracted look in her eye.

"Are you okay Mom?" He asked, after she failed to move for a few moments.

She blinked back to life. "We don't often get strangers around here," she noted softly.

"He seems in an awful hurry," Sakumo observed, digging one hand deep into a pocket as he swung his other arm back and forth with the basket. His father's happuri lay hidden in the sack at his side. He had been unable to return to return it to its hiding place before his mother awoke. With nowhere else to hide it, he simply kept it with him.

"Be careful with that," she sighed and Sakumo smiled. Whatever had distracted her was forgotten.

After they had dropped the dried medicines off at the doctor's hut, and Sakumo had cooled down from watching him try to put a lecherous hand on his mother's ass, an old friend called his mother over to visit with her. He was thankfully excused from the boring exchange, leaving him and Tomo to wander the village.

"Yo Hatake!" A voice called out over the bustle of the market. Sakumo turned to a group of kids waving him over while passing a ball amongst themselves. He dismissed them with a casual turn of his shoulder, fully prepared to continue walking.

"Sakumo! Come play with us," a much lighter voice beckoned over the din. He turned back to the group, noticing Ami, by far the prettiest girl in the village, calling him over. Sakumo could have sworn he heard Tomo almost break into a snicker.

After his grandfather had decided to train him, Sakumo had found the village kids to be far too slow and unimaginative to be any fun at games. But there was something about Ami's large, dark eyes that made him want to show her just how fast he had gotten.

The ball was passed to him and he easily caught it with his foot. The rules were very simple—as long as the ball didn't end up in the river anything was fair game.

"Sakumo?" His mother's voiced called over the heads of the rest of the kids. "I'm heading home. Are you coming?"

He bit the inside of his mouth slowly weighing his decision, but then Ami's eyes blinked solemnly up at him.

"I'll be home for dinner." He called out to her. She waved a goodbye.

And the bloodbath began.

They swarmed around the ball, kicking and clawing to get a piece beneath their foot. Sakumo dodged an elbow to the eye and lifted his arm in defense against a crashing blow coming down from one of the older kids. Eventually, someone managed to push the ball away from the mass of bodies and it rolled across the patchy earth and down towards the river. A chorus of curses and threats followed as they all raced toward the ball. Sakumo easily pulled out ahead of the pack, but Ami, as small as she was, was surprisingly fast. She matched Sakumo step for step for a few moments until they caught the ball neatly between their two feet at the river's edge.

But the pack was moving to quickly to stop from bowling into the pair in a desperate attempt to reach the ball. Sakumo saw everything move in slow motion. Ami lost her balance as another boy tripped into her side. She stumbled backward, losing her footing on the muddy bank. Her bright eyes widened at the sensation of falling, but as she prepared to fall into the speeding current a steady pair of arms pushed her forward.

Ami blinked as she found her feet firmly set on solid ground and Sakumo standing perfectly calm in front of her as the pack roared on. Hadn't he just been beside her?

And who had been behind her?

From the shadows of a small crop of trees the stranger smiled. How quickly the boy had moved—cleverly directing chakra into his feet to push against the water and spring the girl forward. Any doubt he had as to the boy's identity was gone.

Now he had work to do.

"You should play with us more, Saku." Ami smiled, brushing back a wild tendril of hair from her flushed face.

"We don't come to the village very often," Sakumo said, slipping his hands into his pockets to keep them from fidgeting.

"Oh," she blushed and for a moment he was completely enraptured by the delicate flush growing on her pale cheeks. He swallowed loudly.

"But maybe I'll come back tomorrow," he said, words leaving his mouth before his brain could analyze the meaning.

Her eyes brightened. "Okay then! See you tomorrow."

Sakumo's usually inhuman reflexes were unprepared for the quick peck she laid on his cheek, leaving him standing at the edge of the village looking like an idiot as she walked away.

He turned towards home and felt like he was floating on air.

Just as he was planning on how to get out of his grandfather's training tomorrow morning, a small, frantic ball of fluff rammed straight into his shin.

"Ouch," he growled as he yanked Tomo up by the scruff of his fur. "Stupid dog!"

The small pug twisted frantically. "Turn around stupid and run!"

Sakumo blinked at the unexpected voice. "Did you just…talk?"

"Yes stupid boy! Now run! There isn't much time."

He was about to snap back at the dog's insult when a terrible smell hit his sharp nose. Angry tendrils of smoke were quickly rising over the ridge where their home lay. His eyes widened and, with the dog still in hand, he ran.

"Wrong direction! Wrong direction, stupid boy!"

Sakumo ignored the dog's frantic growls, hearing only the blood pumping in his ears. Reaching the top of the ridge, his heart practically stopped as he saw fire slowly swallowing his home.

"Mother!" He cried, the sound ripping from his lungs. Dropping the dog to the ground, he raced towards the house. Sharp teeth sank deep into his ankle and with surprising force pulled him to the ground. Through the haze of smoke he could see two dark figures emerge from the burning inferno.

"Let go!" Sakumo hissed, kicking at the dog with his other foot, but the old dog was surprisingly nimble, dodging his attack with his ankle still trapped in its mouth. "Let go, Tomo. I have to help them!"

The dog did not reply, stubbornly dragging his ankle backward until he heard a distinct crack and felt a burst of pain rip up his leg.

"Argh!" He cried out, the pain taking away his vision for a moment.

"If you're not going to run then you are going to stay," he heard Tomo growl as his head swam. "I'm going to get help."

When his vision finally returned, Tomo was gone and the two shadowy figures were stumbling towards him.

"Sakumo," he heard one of them gargle.

"Mom," he gasped, trying to rise to his feet. The pain of his leg was making his head spin, but he could just make out his grandfather weakly carrying his mother in his arms. Trying to ignore the pain he tried to take a step toward them only to stumble onto his knees.

"Run boy!" His grandfather snapped, his voice low and raspy. "I can't tell where he's gone?"

 _Gone?_ Sakumo thought dumbly. _Where who's gone?_

He watched the pair stumble into the dirt, his mother's sharp cry bringing sudden clarity to his mind. With sweat forming on his brow, he rose. On shaking legs he tried to run to them, but a shadowy figure was faster, appearing directly behind their crumbled forms. The figure raised a long arm, the light of the fire causing the kunai in his hand to glint menacingly.

With a rush of adrenaline and a great force of chakra, Sakumo sped toward the assailant, flinging a kunai to knock the one raised to strike his mother. But the hooded head simply leaned slightly to the left, letting the kunai pass harmlessly by his ear. The stranger aimed to strike but the sharp cling of metal on metal, caused the hooded figure to start in surprise.

His mother had a kunai of her own, deflecting the attack into the ground beside her head.

"Interesting," the stranger chuckled. His mother growled and made to fling her weapon at his head, but he easily caught her arm. With all his attention fixated on his mother, Sakumo focused his chakra into his hand. Small sparks of lightning began to grow as he drew nearer, but just as he was about to direct the full impact of his attack onto the stranger, the man shifted again pulling his mother with him.

Panicked, Sakumo dodged his mother and the jutsu broke out harmlessly into the empty field.

He turned around in horror as he watched the stranger's hood fall, a kunai pressed against his mother's throat.

It was the man from this morning.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you are so gifted, Sakumo," the stranger grinned, distorting the angry x-shaped scar across his cheek. "The Senju's have always shown talent at a young age—your father especially."

Sakumo gnashed his teeth in a mash of pain and rage. Ignoring the pain in his leg, he set is feet to attack. The stranger laughed.

"Ah this brings back memories," he sighed to himself, tightening his grip around his mother as she struggled.

"Run Sakumo," she gasped out, her hands struggling against the stranger's arms to breath.

"I would listen to your mother, Sakumo," the stranger said, his voice disturbingly cheerful. "It's good advice. It looks like the old man's heart has given out and I am just about done with your mother here." He paused for a moment, leaning his nose into her disheveled hair, taking in a deep breath. The way the man's eyes closed with a look of euphoria made Sakumo's skin crawl, but he could only watch helplessly as the stranger used his mother as a human shield.

"Be a good boy and give us some privacy, Sakumo," he said, the smile on his face growing twisted. "I promise when I am done with her, I will give her a merciful death."

"Bastard!" He howled as his hand shakily reached for another kunai, but a sudden force pounded against his side. Great sparks of pain shot through his body, throwing him into a wave of darkness as he fell to the dirt.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

It was a poorly kept secret that Koharu Utatane liked to take long naps in her sensei's office. It was a small, neat room settled just off the hokage's office for Tobirama to be in hearing distance. Set far out of the reach of her squabbling sisters and their screeching kids, with tall windows that allowed in warm southern light, it was the perfect napping spot.

As she settled into the familiar comfort of Tobirama's chair, she breathed in the comforting smell of fresh rain and bitter metal that made up her sensei's scent. It helped to be in here when he was away on missions. Quick notes of new jutsu techniques scribbled beside official documents and forgotten mugs of tea showed he had every intention of coming back.

She remembered the first time she had fallen asleep in his chair. Team Tobirama had been waiting in his office all day for their sensei to return from a weeklong mission, knowing his office was the first place he would go to check in on his brother's progress in paperwork. She had been the first one to be drawn into the plush cushion of the chair, purring contently at the way the soft afternoon light hit the chair just right. She had almost dozed off when she felt another presence wiggle into the left of her side and then another settle into her right. And that was how Tobirama found his young students, curled up like three kittens with hands intertwined and Hiruzen softly snoring like an old man.

They would never all fit together on the chair now. Hiruzen and Homura had long surpassed her in height, despite the fact she was considered an unusually tall kunoichi. Her hips had widened too, while the boys' shoulders had broadened. Fitting all three of them in this chair now would be impossible.

Curling her legs over the armrest and leaning her head against the back of the chair, she closed her eyes, enjoying the blissful silence that could only be found in this small sanctuary.

"KOHARU!"

Without opening her eyes, she gave a deep growl of annoyance, slouching deep into the chair. Perhaps whoever called her name would not be able to see her behind the large stacks of paperwork on the desk.

It was a naïve thought—Hiruzen knew exactly where she would be.

The door opened with a bang, but Koharu used to Hiruzen's over exaggerated entrances, merely opened a single eye in annoyance.

"Go away Hiruzen," she huffed, snuggling deeper into the chair.

"Come on! I need your help," he said, his voice uncharacteristically strained.

Koharu's eyes slowly blinked open. "Is this a real emergency or a Biwako emergency?"

"Is there a difference?!" He moaned, moving to lean against the wide desk. Koharu had long ago noticed her teammate try to emulate their sensei's movements, but it still unsettled her how similar they could be. "She's not speaking to me anymore! I've just been getting death glares from across the training ground all morning."

Koharu rolled her eyes. He intruded on her sacred space for this? "How the hell should I know what you did wrong this time!"

Hiruzen shrugged helplessly. "I just thought because you were a girl, you would…"

She felt a vein begin to twitch in her temple. "Maybe she's just sick of looking at your stupid monkey face!"

Hiruzen stuck on his tongue, showing his true level of maturity. "You're just jealous! Maybe if you ever left sensei's office a guy might ask you out. If he can look past your big fish lips!"

She threw the nearest book at his head, but it was easily dodged with an impish grin. She could not help but smile back. Neither one liked it when their sensei went away on long missions without them, especially after his nearly fatal solo mission, but distractions always helped.

She was about to throw another biting insult his way when a distinct pop reverberated through the room. The smoke cleared to reveal the shaking form of a pug. The pair blinked in surprise and the little dog's beady eyes blinked back.

"T-Tomo?" She said uncertainly, as the dog leapt from the desk and began to sniff around.

"Where is Tobirama?" It barked, beginning to circle around the desk with his nose to the ground.

"Tomo we though you were dead!" Hiruzen shouted, lowering to his knees to be eye level with their sensei's old summons. The little dog lifted his head and his large ears flopped forward. Tomo had some how managed to grow smaller and his muzzle was certainly greyer, but there was no doubt he was their sensei's favorite summons they thought had been lost on a near fatal mission.

"Where have you been all these years?!"

"There's no time!" He growled. "I need to reach Tobirama but I can't sense him anywhere."

"Sensei is at the Kage Summit with Lord Hashirama," Koharu explained, joining Hiruzen on the floor. "The site is protected with barriers to prevent summons."

"Damn it all," Tomo howled, continuing to pace.

"Just tell us what's wrong Tomo! We can help," Hiruzen prodded, reaching out a hand to grab the dog's rope collar.

Tomo struggled for a moment and then suddenly stilled. "The boy's in danger. You need to help him. Kana is lost but the boy can be saved."

The dog's tone was quickly turning frantic again. Hiruzen and Koharu shared a glance.

"What boy, Tomo?" Koharu asked, feeling uncharacteristically confused.

"I can't explain! We need to get back to the boy!"

"Okay Tomo." Hiruzen said rising to his feet. "Where is he?"

"You'll never reach him," Tomo moaned. "He on the edge of the border. Tobirama's the only one fast enough!"

"Koharu knows Sensei's transportation jutsu," Hiruzen interjected quickly. "She can get us there."

Koharu paled. "But I don't even have a seal there!"

"Just put your seal on Tomo and he can return to the boy. We'll follow right behind."

Koharu felt all color drain from her cheeks. "We?! I still struggle just to transport me!"

"I believe in you Koharu," he said solemnly. She fought the urge to roll her eyes—like that helped. The old pug stared desperately up at her.

She sighed.

"Hold still, Tomo," she mumbled and the dog's squirming form stilled. With a deep breath, she applied the seal to his long ear and prayed she hadn't made her usual mistake of leaving out a line. Without sensei there to catch the blunder this could be a quick trip with an unpleasant end.

With a puff of smoke the dog summons was gone and they were left alone in the deafening quiet of the room.

Hiruzen held out a hand. "Ready?"

"This is insane," she mumbled as she took his hand.

And then they were gone.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Koharu shakily tried to gain her footing as chakra exhaustion began to overtake her. She did not have anywhere near Tobirama's chakra stamina, which is why he had hesitated to teach her in the first place.

A steady hand clasped her shoulder and with a deep breath she was able to slowly stop the world around her from spinning, focusing on a small lump at her feet.

"A day full of surprises!" She heard a cackle mingled with the angry spits of a fire nearby.

"Let her go," Hiruzen demanded and as she gained a sense of her surroundings she realized they stood before a tall man with a hideous x-shaped scar across his face and a woman held tightly to his chest.

"Please," the woman gasped, a heavy stream of blood flowing down her cheek. Koharu and the woman locked eyes for a long moment. "Please… help him."

It was then she realized the crumpled form at their feet was a young boy, passed out with blood slowly pooling at his side. "Take care of the boy, Koharu. I'll handle this," Hiruzen ordered. She dropped to one knee as Hiruzen began to spring forward, but the stranger only chuckled, holding out a hand to stop him.

"That won't be necessary, shinobi. I've had my fun here for today." In one swift motion he pulled his kunai across the woman's neck, disappearing in a wave of smoke as blood began to gush from her neck. In a burst of speed, Hiruzen was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

It was clear the woman was dead but the boy at Koharu's knees was still taking in small, shallow breaths. She cursed for a moment at falling asleep during the academy's medical lessons, but she never had enough chakra control to do anything but the most basic of medical jutsu anyways. It would have to be enough for now.

Hiruzen stood with the dead woman held gently in his arms. For the first time she noticed the blood streaming from her cheek came from two slash marks made to look exactly like the assailants x-shaped scar. But even with a deathly pallor and blood marred across her like war paint—Koharu caught herself thinking she was quite beautiful.

As she concentrated on the wound at the boy's side, a sharp glint from beneath his arm caught her eye. With one hand still pressed firmly against the wound she pulled a badly scratched forehead protector from his pocket and nearly dropped it in surprise. How many times had she seen Tobirama wear a happuri exactly like this one? The only difference was the old engraving of the Senju clan scratched into the center instead of the familiar symbol of the Hidden Leaf.

"What is going on here, Hiruzen?" She breathed, holding up the forehead protector for him to see. He gave a start of surprise.

"Is that…?"

The boy groaned. She had managed to stop the bleeding but Kami only knows what kind of internal damage he had. Hiruzen's attention was immediately focused.

"Do you have enough chakra to transport him to the village?"

"Barely," she admitted, lifting the boy awkwardly onto her back. His head rested gently on her shoulder and for a moment her eyes widened at the familiarity of the feathery white hair that brushed across her cheek.

"He needs medical attention. I'll take care of the bodies and see if the creep left any tracks nearby." He paused, staring down at the forehead protector n her hand. "Keep that hidden until I return."

She nodded; stuffing the happuri deep into her pouch, and then vanished.

At the medic center the dead woman's words rang in her ears as the boy was taken from her trembling arms.

 _Please…help him._

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

 _Once there was a Wolf who got very little to eat because the Dogs of the village were so fierce and watchful. The Wolf was really nothing but skin and bones._

Frantic voices called out in the distance, but Sakumo was too busy listening to his mother's voice to care what they were saying.

 _One night the Wolf happened to meet a fine fat House Dog who had wandered a little too far from home. The Dog was far too strong to attack so the Wolf spoke very politely to the Dog, complimenting him on his fine appearance._

The far away voices were becoming more persistent and he struggled to hear his mother's story.

 _"You can be as well-fed as I am if you want to," replied the Dog. "Leave the woods; there you live miserably and come serve my masters."_

 _"What must I do?" asked the Wolf._

 _"Hardly anything," answered the House Dog. "Chase people who carry canes, bark at beggars, and fawn on the people of the house and they will feed you well."_

He wanted to curl deeper into his mother's embrace but something was pulling him farther away from her. Her words were becoming fainter as they mixed with the annoying buzzing of someone's desperate call.

 _The Wolf had such a beautiful vision of his coming happiness that he almost wept. But just then he noticed that the hair on the Dog's neck was worn and the skin was chafed._

 _"What is that on your neck?"_

 _"Oh, just a trifle! It's only the mark of the collar to which my chain is fastened."_

 _"What! A chain!" cried the Wolf. "Don't you go wherever you please?"_

 _"Not always! But what's the difference?" replied the Dog._

 _"All the difference in the world! I don't care a rap for your feasts and I wouldn't take all the tender young lambs in the world at that price." And away ran the Wolf to the woods._

"Always remember why we are wolves, Sakumo," His mother finished.

And then all the voices stopped.

Sakumo's eyes opened for a moment, the space around him disturbingly white.

 _Was he dead?_

He opened his mouth to call out but his throat was painfully dry and he was left with no sound. Beginning to panic he curled his hands, only to feel them dig into something wonderfully soft and comforting.

Tomo.

 _Stupid dog_ , he thought with a smile before returning to blissful darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Three figures sat lazily among the large branches of an old oak, guarding the village gate as the morning sun rose. Danzo stared determinedly out at the empty road, while Kagami slouched on the branch below, occasionally stirring to brush away the crumbs that fell from Torifu's branch. It would have remained a relatively quiet spring morning, if they had not sensed the approach of a fourth member. Homura walked slowly up to the thick trunk of the oak, shoulders slumped and eyes shadowed with weariness.

"Any sign of them?" He asked, looking up hopefully. The trio shook their head in unison. It had been almost a week since they received word that negotiations had fallen through and the Senju brothers would be returning home.

"Is she awake?" Kagami called down, rolling off his back to allow his feet to dangle over the thick branch. Homura took a long moment to clean his glasses before answering, a nervous tick he had had since childhood.

"Well?" Danzo prodded impatiently as he bravely leaned over to steal a rice cracker from Torifu's hand. Homura looked up with a snap, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Not yet," he answered, his voice strained. It had been nearly a week now since he had gotten wind that one teammate was unconscious in the hospital from chakra exhaustion and the other was missing in action. With Sensei gone and no teammates at his side, he felt as if his moorings had been cut and he was left adrift at sea.

"Don't worry, Homura," Torifu garbled, spewing crumbs over Kagami's lap. "I'm sure Hiruzen just went to meet up with Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sensei. They'll be back soon."

Homura looked doubtfully down at his feet. The three shinobi shared a glance, unsure how to help their spectacled teammate, who looked small and lost without Hiruzen and Koharu by his side.

"Even if that were true," Homura frowned, scuffing his sandal in the dirt. "That doesn't explain why Koharu and that strange kid are passed out in the hospital."

Homura had caught a glimpse of the boy as he was rushing to Koharu's room. In between the bustling medics the kid had looked like a small corpse with a shock of hair as pale as his face. The third morning he had been forced from Koharu's room by an irritated medic, he caught sight of the boy again. Unlike Koharu, who slept with the stillness of the dead, the boy tossed and turned beneath the hospital sheets, muttering and moaning as a small dog whined helplessly at his side. If Homura did not know any better he would have thought the little dog was their sensei's old summons—but that was impossible.

The young Uchiha scratched the back of his head, a helpless grimace on his handsome face. "Maybe sensei sent her on a mission without telling us." He tried weakly.

Homura glared. "Tobirama-sensei would never send her out on a mission alone. Not after what those drunken mercenaries did to Misa."

"Misa was an air-head," Danzo said dismissively from above. Kagami looked up at his teammate with a warning glare.

"What?" Danzo scowled. The young Uchiha looked ready to snidely answer, when he caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye. Hashirama and Tobirama were slowly approaching the gate, appearing deep in conversation. By the scowl on Tobirama's face and the look of utter dejection on Hashirama's, it was safe to assume the summit did not go as planned.

Homura squinted, expecting to see Hiruzen at their sensei's side, but the Senju brothers were alone.

"Welcome back Lord Hashirama. Tobirama-sensei." Kagami called, landing gracefully beside Homura as they neared. Torifu and Danzo quickly followed. The intense discussion died between the two brothers. Hashirama's face brightened upon noticing the young shinobi.

"Hello boys!" He yelled, somehow managing to catch all four of them in a giant bear hug. The young men endured the embarrassing display of affection with resigned expressions, knowing that resistance was futile. Thankfully, Tobirama-sensei was there to save them before Hashirama cut off their circulation.

"I don't think they can breathe, brother," Tobirama noted distantly as he walked passed.

"Wait Sensei!" Homura called, when Hashirama finally released them. "Is Hiruzen not with you?"

Tobirama stopped and turned his head slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that we haven't seen Hiruzen in a few days," Homura said breathlessly, suddenly becoming anxious. "I thought he was on a mission with Koharu, but she came back a few days ago."

Tobirama's garnet eyes narrowed and Homura resisted the urge to gulp. It was not very often he was on the receiving end of his sensei's tiger like glare, but he knew it was simply a consequence of Tobirama's irritation at being caught off guard.

Hashirama came to stand beside his brother, his brows furrowed. "I don't remember assigning either one of them a mission."

"That's because you didn't," the white-haired Senju said, his words dangerously clipped. "Where is Koharu?"

Homura looked hesitant to answer, forcing Kagami to bravely step forward. "She's in the hospital recovering from chakra exhaustion."

Tobirama stilled. The young shinobi instinctively took a step back.

"Now brother, I'm sure she is—" Hashirama made to place a comforting hand on his younger brother's shoulder. But Tobirama was already gone.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Sakumo awoke with fire in his throat and a terrible ringing in his ears. An unidentifiably dull throbbing panged across his body. Was this death?

How depressing if it was…

Images flashed across his mind, too quickly for him to catch. Sharp shouts and soft voices mingled with an ever present ringing, until suddenly everything was dark and his mind was still.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to immediately snap them shut again. The ringing grew sharper as the bright light assaulted his eyes. For a moment all he could do was let out a long, injured groan. Burrowing deep inside himself, away from the painful ringing, he sought comfort in the dark oblivion—but an insistent nudging against his shoulder prevented his return to unconsciousness.

"Psst…hey," A voice called above the ringing. Sakumo made to tell the voice to go away, but it fell from his lips as another painful moan.

"Hey…HEY! You're not dead are you?" The voice persisted, the nudging against Sakumo's shoulder turning to sharp jabs.

"Cut it out," Sakumo finally rasped, carefully opening his eyes into slits, wary of the painful blaring light.

"Phew…" The decidedly annoying voice laughed in relief. "I was afraid they left a corpse in here."

Sakumo slowly blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust as the ringing in his brain faded into a soft hum. Squinting through the blurriness he could make out a strange dark lump against a white screen. As he continued to blink his vision solidified and the lump transformed into a boy with a most assuredly annoying smile slapped across his face.

The kid, noticing his glare, smiled brighter. "Well hello!"

Sakumo frowned at the stranger as he tried to focus his thoughts in the fog of his mind. Where was his mother?

And why had she let an idiot into their house?

"You okay? You look whiter then your hair…I've never seen hair that white before—well maybe Uncle Tobirama's—but I'm pretty sure it's just grey from stress."

The strange kid's babbling was preventing Sakumo from forming a coherent train of thought and the soft humming in his head was turning into a pounding headache. He had to gain control of the situation.

"Do you think you could get me a glass of water?" Sakumo asked, his tongue feeling heavy in his mouth.

"Sure!"

Sakumo watched the annoying intruder as he walked across the room to the water jug on the end table. The boy looked close to his own age, with pale skin and dark hair with highlights of cinnamon flopping across a shining forehead protector. The room they were in was white and bare, save for the two beds and nightstand. It looked new and well crafted—a far cry from his village's dilapidated interiors.

"Where am I?" He asked as he accepted the cool glass of water from the boy. "How did I get here?"

"You're in the Hidden Leaf village," the boy exclaimed proudly, his chest puffing out a bit. "Not sure how you got here—you were here before me."

He rolled up the fabric from his left arm to expose a series of thick bandages around his wrist. "Got it caught in a trap," he explained, his cheeks turning a little ruddy.

"That was stupid," Sakumo muttered, shutting his eyes again and praying the boy would leave him in peace.

"Oh yeah," the boy sputtered. "Well at least I don't have amnesia!"

Sakumo opened one dark eye in annoyance. "I don't have amnesia."

The boy looked incredulous. Sakumo sighed. "My name is Sakumo Hatake. I live in the village of Iza with my grandfather and moth—"

An unwelcome memory assailed him: _Run Sakumo, his mother gasped, her hands struggling against the stranger's arm to breath._

Sakumo sat up straight in an instant and immediately a white, hot pain tore across his side. A sharp gasp of pain broke from his lips as his vision went dark for a moment.

"My mother," he breathed heavily, a painful knot tying in his throat. "Where is my mother?" The strange boy looked around the room in helpless confusion.

"I don't know," He answered desperately. "I haven't seen anyone—"

A puff of smoke burst between the pair and filled Sakumo's vision for a brief, uncomfortable moment. As it dissipated, Sakumo's heart felt a little lighter as he recognized the old pug standing calmly in his lap.

"You are awake!" Tomo barked happily, pushing his front paws against Sakumo's chest and licking his face with his long tongue in an unusual display of affection. "The nurses kept kicking me out, but I have been sneaking in to check on you."

"Who the hell are you?" The other boy gasped, after his heart restarted.

The dog summons turned, cocking its head, equally surprised by the stranger's presence. Tomo took a delicate sniff. "You smell like one of Hashirama's litter."

The boy blushed. "I'm his son if that's what you mean."

Tomo frowned, his grey-flecked jowls drooping lower. "Ryuu is it not? You always used to pull my tail and try to make it straight."

"I did?" Ryuu asked, his brows knitting together. "I don't remember that. Sorry"

"It does not matter," Tomo sniffed. "Sakumo used to do the same."

Sakumo was growing irritated. "Tomo, where is my mother? Is she all right? How did we get here?"

The little dog stilled and his dark, beady eyes grew wet and bright. "I'm sorry, boy," he said his head bent and ears wilted low. "I could not save her…I could only save you."

An animal like howl pulled from his throat as Sakumo fell back into his pillows. His head swam as the room around him began to grow dark.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Tobirama walked swiftly through the hospital corridor. Still dressed in his armor, he looked like a beast of war tearing through the peaceful hall.

"Lord Tobirama!" A blur of blonde hair and fair skin appeared in his path, forcing him into an abrupt halt. Ima, one of the resident medics, smiled up at him with eyes smoky and dark. At first glance, she looked nearly identical to her younger sister, but there was a delicate seductiveness in Ima that could not be found in Koharu's guarded wildness. He found himself taking a step back from the daintily perfumed air around her.

"Are you here to interrogate the boy?" She asked, her voice rippling like silk. Tobirama's mouth twitched slightly, the only indication of his annoyance at being deterred. "The one Koharu brought in." Ima prompted. "He doesn't have any paperwork or your necessary clearance."

Tobirama's eyebrows lifted slightly. It was not like Koharu to break one of his carefully laid rules. "What room is Koharu in?"

Ima's sultry smile dimmed a little as she checked the clipboard in her hand. "Room 34B…poor little baby might still be sleeping though."

But she was talking to his back as he made for Koharu's room. His former student would have been livid if she heard her sister call her a 'poor little baby'.

Koharu was fast asleep in the bed, laid out flat and solemnly in the sheets like a body prepared for a funeral procession. It was so unlike the way Koharu usually slept, splayed out and wild, for a moment Tobirama truly feared she was dead. But as he came to stand beside the bed, the familiar soft purrs of her breathing echoed in his ears, and he was able uncurl his hands from their worried fists.

She was pale and still, her golden hair splayed carelessly against the pillow. This doleful being, so unlike Koharu, put him on edge. Even when she was a little girl, he had irrationally watched over her in the hospital, hardly eating or sleeping—waiting for the sharp, indomitable kunoichi to return to him.

As he settled on the window ledge beside her, a sharp, pained howl echoed down the hallway, capturing his attention for a moment. It sounded like an injured beast coming from the end of the hall. Medics ran frantically pass the doorway, but he soon lost interest. The hospital was quickly filling with the mentally insane and he was at a loss of how to deal with them.

Taking her small hand in his, he almost started at how cold it felt against his palm.

"Uncle Tobirama!" Ryuu greeted suddenly from the doorway. Tobirama's hand dropped to his side. He immediately signaled for quiet and his nephew sheepishly entered, noticing Koharu asleep in the bed. Tobirama frowned as he noted the thick bandages across Ryuu's hand. His nephew quickly hid it behind his back.

"You should see the other guy," he whispered.

Tobirama decided not to ask. He was well aware of the long shadow his older brother cast upon his young son. The Senju name was a heavy weight to carry and Ryuu had yet to exhibit the usual prodigious talent of the clan. His amiable nature reminded Tobirama a great teal of Itama and he knew Hashirama worked hard to ensure Ryuu did not suffer the same fate as their youngest brother.

He was too coddled in Tobirama's opinion, but he remained silent when Hashirama assigned the simplest missions possible to the young boy.

"Is Koharu going to be okay?" Ryuu asked, coming to stand on the other side of the bed.

"Of course," he said, his voice sharper then intended. Ryuu flushed red and the room fell into awkward silence.

"Should you be out of your room?" The older Senju eventually inquired, unable to stand the boy's nervous shuffling. He supposed it was understandable; he had been distant from Hashirama's children for some time now and showed little patience for Ryuu's prankish behavior.

Ryuu shrugged, fiddling with the bandage on his hand. "They just released me. My roommate passed out and I was taking up too much space. The only reason they kept me here over night was because they thought my wound might be infected." The pull of his face showed he thought it was a waste of time.

Tobirama resisted the urge to admonish the boy for shrugging his fortune so lightly. When he was a child the clan healer was just as likely to cut off the wounded limb as to bandage it.

Silence returned for another uncomfortable eternity, until Ryuu spoke again.

"He just lost his mom."

"Who?"

"My roommate, Sakumo. He didn't know where he was for a while and then he was told his mother was dead."

Tobirama leaned back thoughtfully. Ryuu lived a very charmed life having never known what it was like to lose a family member.

"That must be the boy Koharu brought in," Tobirama sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. A heavy tiredness was beginning to set in his bones. There had been little time for sleep during the Kage Summit.

"He has a funny accent," Ryuu said, flicking the edge of the bed sheet. Koharu would not appreciate being seen like this, Tobirama thought and quickly decided to shoo the boy out.

"Why don't you head home, Ryuu. I am sure Hashirama is eager to see you."

Ryuu's face quickly lit up at the mention of his father. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot he was back today."

He raced from the room only to return a few moments later. "Tell Koharu to get better okay."

Tobirama leaned his head back against the wall and rested his eyes, finding Koharu's breathing perfectly soothing, as he considered a suitable punishment for Hiruzen when he returned.

As fortune would have it, Hiruzen returned to the village later that afternoon, blissfully unaware of the punishment his sensei had divined for him. His stomach growled with hunger, having been forced to live off mostly berries as he tried to track the ghost of a man. As he walked through the gate, he debated between grabbing a quick bite of noodles or waiting for Biwako to fix him something. If he stopped at Biwako's he could satisfy a little more then his hunger…

An excited smile mixed with a lecherous blush as he changed his course—only to have a sharp jerk of his collar pull him back.

"Well if it isn't our very own dead man walking," Danzo smiled.

Hiruzen pulled free as Danzo's words dawned on him. "But sensei wasn't supposed to be back for another week!"

Danzo shrugged. "Negotiations failed."

Hiruzen resisted the urge to gulp, fear replacing the hunger in his belly.

"Is he…?"

Danzo nodded, a wicked smile showing his clear enjoyment of the situation. "He came back to find Koharu in the hospital and you missing in action—you'll be lucky if he lets you keep your head."

The young Sarutobi rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He should have expected this. It was probably best to confront his sensei before he had enough time to come up with one of his legendarily elaborate punishments.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Koharu squinted up at the white washed ceiling above her and could have sworn it was getting closer. The nurse had told her she had been asleep for nearly a week. They wouldn't tell her anything about the boy.

 _Please…help him._

She let out a deep sigh of agitation and kicked the itchy hospital sheets away from her legs. She had only been awake a few hours and already the room was becoming claustrophobic. Her sister would have a fit if she saw Koharu up and about, but the hospital was still notoriously understaffed and she was sure her absence would not be noticed until she was long gone.

Her legs were shaky as she lifted herself from the bed and she doubted she could trust her chakra at the moment to help her escape across the rooftops.

Out the front door it is then, she thought ruefully.

The late afternoon light bathed the quiet hospital rooms and Koharu was able to walk down the hall undisturbed. Her knees began to feel less like rice pudding as she stepped lightly along the shadows. Perhaps her chakra would return to its full capacity before Tobirama's return. He would certainly not be pleased to discover their impromptu mission.

The sound of an inconsolable whimpering caught her attention as she passed a room with the door firmly closed. Common sense told her to continue, but curiosity pushed her to investigate the source of the tormented cry. For a split second she stopped at the sight of the feathery white hair, her heart pounding. Was that…?

But the being turned to reveal a much younger face then her sensei's. Koharu allowed herself to breathe. It was the boy they had rescued. The way the boy's pallid hair fell at all angles and the manner he set his shoulders so guardedly gave her the sense of what Tobirama must have looked like as a youth. Except for the eyes that stared at her with the sharpness of slate, the boy could have been a miniature clone.

"Are you crying?" She asked before thinking. The boy's shoulders stiffened with indignity and Koharu resisted the urge to wince in embarrassment. She had never been very good with children. Tsunade bursting into tears every time she saw her was a testament to that. The boy turned to her with a deep-set frown, giving him a look of great age.

"No," he answered coldly and returned his attention to the window, his hands settled protectively on Tomo's wrinkled back.

"Oh," she said, suddenly feeling foolish for being there. She made up her mind to return to her escape, when Tomo lifted his head to attention.

"You should thank her," he said gruffly, his eyes glassy as he stared up at the boy. "She saved your life, Sakumo."

The boy slowly returned his attention to her, his eyes dark, bloodshot and uncertain.

"You can call me Koharu."

"Thank you," he said with a voice heavily steeled for one so young. In the light of the early morning and nearly lost in the pillows and blankets, the boy looked small and alone. He's lost everything, she thought, but even in all this strangeness he refuses to show vulnerability. She almost smiled; he was so much like someone else she knew.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, trying to stave off the heavy silence that hung over the room like curtains. He shrugged, but didn't turn away.

Reluctantly he answered. "They said I'm all healed but I can't leave."

Koharu nodded in understanding, remembering Tobirama's strict protocol on strangers in the village. But the way the boy looked so dolefully out the window, reminded her of her own painful claustrophobia.

Quietly opening the door she scanned the hallway for patrolling medics. Sensing that the coast was clear, she nodded her head toward the hall.

"Why don't we go for a walk."

He looked suspiciously at her for a moment, but quickly decided it could not be much worse then wasting away in the sterile room. Tomo, understanding of her intention, remained on the bed as Sakumo tested the steadiness of his legs.

"I'll have no part of this," the old dog sniffed, as he curled into himself for a nap. Koharu was impressed to notice his quiet steps and economic movements. Was this natural talent or had he been trained?

Sakumo took in a deep breath as they released themselves from the hospital. He had never smelled air so fresh. His companion smiled at the reaction, but there was no denying her dark eyes were shining a little brighter in the afternoon sunlight.

They walked for a few moments in silence, before Sakumo's curiosity got the better of him. "Are you a kunoichi?"

"What gave it away?" Koharu smiled as she brushed her flaxen bangs away from her forehead protector.

"I've never met a kunoichi before," he said impressed. Koharu nodded, her smile dimming slightly.

"There really aren't a lot of us," she said. "My mother nearly killed me when I told her my intention."

"My mom too," Sakumo said with eyes bright, but his features immediately darkened, assaulted by an unpleasant thought. He had almost forgotten she was gone. How could he have forgotten so easily…in such a short span of time?

Koharu moved quickly. "So you're a shinobi then?"

The boy nodded with his jaw set. He was using every muscle in his body to keep back a great wave of emotion.

"My grandfather trained me a little," he said, the confession feeling strange in his mouth. He had never been allowed to tell anyone that before.

The kunoichi raised her eyebrows slightly. "Was it just your grandfather and mother living with you?"

Sakumo nodded, though he noted the delicate probe.

"No father then?" This question was plied as casually as the first, but he sensed the heavier interest.

Sakumo shook his head. "I never knew him."

Koharu stared thoughtfully down at him, toying with another question on her tongue, before swallowing it into silence. She stopped at the edge of one of the more concealed training grounds. She tilted her head to the center of the manicured grass, an inviting grin pulled on her lips.

"Care to show me what you got?"

Sakumo knew from the start that he was no match for the older kunoichi, but he knew how to put up a graceful fight. For a while they matched blow for blow and Sakumo was able to push away darkening thoughts and focus solely on the quick motions of his opponent. The kunoichi in turn, appeared distracted, her attention less on the sparring and more on the space beyond—as if she was expecting someone to attack from the edge of the training ground.

Koharu called for a halt when she nearly took Sakumo's head off with a well-aimed kick and he looked at her with eyes too weary to care. For a few moments there was nothing but the sound of heavy breathing. Koharu was the first to recover, content that her taijutsu had not suffered over the coarse of a week. The boy was surprisingly good. She would have been disappointed if he had not been.

"You're reacting instead of acting." She said, once they had both caught their breath. Sakumo shrugged, digging his hands deep into his pockets.

Koharu thought it strange. He looked so much like her sensei that she had fully expected the kid to fight in the same manner, but where Tobirama was all about controlling a fight Sakumo appeared content to watch things play out on their own terms.

"But otherwise I'm impressed," Koharu admitted, but she had already lost his attention. Shading his eyes from the afternoon sun, the boy looked over in awe at the carving of Hashirama's face overlooking the village.

"Who is that?" he half-whispered in awe. Koharu moved to stand beside him, taking in the comforting sight with the same wonder as when she had first seen it as a little girl.

"That is our first Hokage, Hashirama Senju." She explained. "He founded the village along with his brother, Tobirama-sensei." Sakumo stilled, like a rabbit sensing the presence of a fox.

"You mean the _actual_ Senju brothers are here!" Sakumo exclaimed, his eyes wide with an excitement that strangely reminded her of Ryuu Senju. "Have you ever seen them in action? Can one of them really use wood-style—"

"ARE YOU INSANE!" A voice howled from across the field.

Koharu looked up in surprise as Homura waved wildly at them from the edge of the field, his glasses glinting furiously in the light. Sakumo cocked his head as the man in the glasses joined them. Was this who Koharu had been tensely waiting for? He didn't look all that scary with his glasses sliding down his long nose.

"Hello, Homura," Koharu greeted innocently. Homura did not seem to be much older then her but he stood a good head taller and glared sourly down at her. She did not appear all that intimidated.

"You're suppose to be in the hospital," he growled and then pointed accusingly at Sakumo. "And _he_ is supposed to be under guard."

Koharu shrugged. "He's just a kid, Homura. I was watching him."

"You're still recovering from chakra exhaustion," he snapped. "I thought you were nearly dead the last time I saw you."

Koharu smiled impishly. "Were you worried about me?"

Homura rubbed his chin with a thoughtful frown; he had been trying to grow a beard to little avail. "Only that you would leave me alone with Hiruzen," he said grudgingly. "Though I have a feeling he's a dead man."

Koharu's mouth twitched with interest. "What? Why?"

"Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sensei are back," Homura sighed. "He was not pleased to hear that Hiruzen was missing and you were in the hospital—to put it mildly."

"Does he know about Sakumo?" She asked, her voice suddenly low and flat.

"Who? Oh the kid!" Homura nodded his head. "I'm sure sensei will want to question him."

Koharu bit her bottom lip, judging by Homura's hesitation a long string of lectures awaited her in his office.

"Now?" She asked meekly. Homura's glasses flashed.

"Unless you want him to track you down himself."

Koharu grimaced, then looked at Sakumo. It was probably better if they went to the Hokage's office—more witnesses there.

"Are we really going to meet the Senju brothers?" Sakumo asked excitedly, sounding like an actual kid.

Homura frowned. "This isn't a game, boy."

Koharu elbowed him sharply in the side. Homura looked at her with surprise.

"Did your mother ever tell you anything about them?" Koharu asked, her question slipping innocently beneath Sakumo's radar. Homura lifted an eyebrow, curious as to why Koharu would ask.

"Just that the Senju are a clan of a thousand skills and a thousand enemies," he said solemnly, remembering his mother's words. The two teammates shared a look before Homura left them under the shadow of the administration building.

Sakumo stayed a few paces behind Koharu once they entered the office, noting the wary gaze of two impressively large shinobi. He resisted the urge to gulp—sweaty from their late afternoon practice and having not bathed in a week—this was not how he wished to meet his two heroes.

Sitting behind the desk, one man stared solemnly down at a shinobi lowered on one knee, his hands steepled in thought. With his mouth cut so solemnly, Sakumo thought he looked exactly like the stone face on the cliff. Standing directly behind him was a man with arms crossed and white hair falling sullenly over his eyes.

Sakumo gave a start of surprise—he had never seen anyone with hair like his before. He remembered all the times the kids of the village used to tease him for having hair like an old man. He doubted anyone had dared ever laugh at this man about his hair. The third man on his knees was far younger then the other two and held a much more resigned posture.

"Hiruzen!" Homura exclaimed and his teammate looked up warily at the sound of his name. "We were so worried. What the hell happened to you?"

"That," a voice, rich but stern, interrupted. "Is exactly what we would like to know."

"Sensei, I can—" The young shinobi on the ground began, but the white-haired man's unsettling eyes rose to his with a snap and the room fell into a sullen silence. Sakumo could only stand quietly in confusion as his eyes darted from the man he knew as the God of the Shinobi to the one who seemed to be half man and half command.

"We have made it no secret that we are grooming you to follow in our footsteps, Hiruzen," he said, finally breaking the suffocating silence. The man's tone was coldly neutral, but each word looked like a slap to the face for the young man.

"In order for this village to survive, it will need strong leaders to guide and cherish its people. It will need leaders who act upon wisdom—not foolish impulses."

Sakumo watched as the young shinobi's shoulders visibly stiffened.

The white-haired shinobi stared levelly at him with the cool gaze of a prowling predator. "Your actions leave me in doubt that you are that leader."

The young shinobi frowned. "But sensei you don't know all the facts! We were—"

A muscle worked in the man's jaw. "I know I left you with instructions to monitor the village. I know that I returned to find you missing and Koharu hospitalized. And I _know_ there is only an unsanctioned boy passed out in the hospital for all your trouble."

"I wouldn't have gone if Tomo hadn't asked."

The older shinobi did not move, but Sakumo could see his jaw clench once, and then twice again at the name of the little dog summons. The shinobi known as Hiruzen had the common sense to look contrite, as the white haired man glared down at him. Sakumo resisted the urge to step behind Koharu, who seemed unimpressed with the raw anger that was filling the room.

"Perhaps you should call your old summons, Tobirama-sensei," Koharu cut in, casually distributing the weight in her stance as if preparing for battle. Sakumo's head jerked with interest at the name. So this was the other Senju brother. He knew of Tobirama Senju's reputation, of course, but the man was proving to be so much more then even the village storytellers' could conjure into fable.

"Tomo was looking everywhere for you and when you could not be found he came to us," she continued, her eyes flashing. The God of Shinobi's stone mask broke as he looked up at his brother in surprise. Sakumo had the strangest feeling he had seen that same stupid expression somewhere before.

"I thought the little dog was dead," Hashirama said, his dark eyes wide and questioning. "After…"

But his brother quickly cut him off. "I fail to see what Tomo has to do with you two disobeying protocol and leaving the village of your own accord."

Hiruzen spoke up. "He said that someone was in danger. We got there just in time to prevent the kid from being murdered!"

All eyes were suddenly on Sakumo who stared bravely ahead despite the fact he wished he could melt into the floorboards. Hashirama's eyes were dark but kind and he tried to focus on them more then the assessing glare coming from the white haired Senju.

"Sakumo was injured so I brought him back here while Hiruzen went after the perpetrator. Would you have preferred we left the boy for _dead_ , Tobirama-sensei? " Koharu's question cut clear through the room, with an ice that matched Tobirama's tone syllable for syllable. Sakumo found a strange comfort in her cold ferocity.

"And what if all of this had been a clever ploy to allow a spy into our village?" Tobirama growled, ignoring the question but mirroring her glare with narrowed eyes. "You know nothing about this boy—and yet you have practically welcomed him into our home."

"I'm _not_ a spy!" Sakumo protested, speaking before common sense had the chance to tell him to be silent.

Tobirama's frown deepened. "Are we expected to believe you?"

"He's just a kid, sensei," Hiruzen tried to intervene, but it was like convincing a mountain to bow.

"Do not underestimate a person because of their age, Saru," he growled, folding his arms across his chest.

Sakumo was silently growing furious. Did this man truly believe he was here to spy? His mother and grandfather lay dead in an open field somewhere and his home was nothing but embers—and this man thought he was here to spy?

He felt a fire grow in his chest.

"My name is Sakumo Hatake, the last of the Hatake clan. I come from the village on the border and I will return there as soon as I can. I want revenge for my murdered family. I'm not here to spy on your stupid village."

The room was silent for an unbearably long moment. Tobirama's eyes narrowed into slits, but this time a burning courage allowed Sakumo to meet his eye.

Koharu was the first to break the silence, bravely cutting through the tense moment by pulling a forehead protector from the depths of her pouch.

"He had this on him when we found him, sensei," she said, setting it on the desk. "Does it mean anything to you?"

Sakumo's eyes widened as he saw his father's forehead protector resting on the desk. For a long moment he felt betrayed that Koharu would take his most precious thing from him, but it was quickly mixed with relief that it had not been lost in his battle with the stranger, as he previously believed.

Hashirama's mouth opened as he raised the battle scarred happuri for closer inspection. "Tobi this is yours," he said with slight disbelief, rubbing one of the longer scratches along the side in remembrance. "Izuna nearly killed you that time."

Tobirama did not bother to look, his attention focused solely on the boy that could have been his own clone. "Where did you get this?" He asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"My mother gave it to me," Sakumo said sticking his chin out slightly. Was he being accused of stealing it? "It belonged to my…"

A terrible realization hit him as he tried to finish his sentence. His eyes were suddenly bright, as he looked up at the white haired shinobi in a whole new light.

"Is there something _you_ want to tell us, sensei?" Koharu asked, her voice like flint clashing across a stone. He angled his head, a muscle ticking along his jaw.

"All of you are dismissed," Tobirama growled, his voice filled with cold authority. "Except you, Hiruzen."

Sakumo did not feel the heat rising in the room or Koharu gently nudging him out of the office. He did not even feel the cold stare resting on his back as he left with Koharu.

 _Father_

Could it really be true?

Sakumo was so lost in thought that he did not even see the ambush that awaited them until it was too late. Four young shinobi pounced as Koharu led the way out of the Hokage building, expertly cutting into the space between them.

"So this is the kid who has been causing all the commotion." One laughed in clear delight. Sakumo took a step back to brace himself for a possible attack, but the four young men seemed more curious then hostile. The one he recognized as Homura, held Koharu in deep conversation, leaving him to deal with the three others.

"I expected them to bring you out in chains," another sniffed, looking clearly disappointed as he scratched a scarred chin with his thumb.

"Don't be silly, Danzo." Admonished the first shinobi who spoke. "He's just a kid!"

"You're far too trusting, Kagami." The one known as Danzo sighed irritably. His companion merely rolled his eyes in answer.

"So tell us your deal, kid." The third and most round shinobi demanded.

"I _have_ a name," Sakumo growled, irritated by the unwanted attention and the constant reminders of his youth.

Kagami's smile widened. "And an attitude to go with it, I see."

Sakumo flushed, but was saved from further embarrassment by the unholy swear that came from where Koharu and Homura stood.

"Sensei's son!?" Homura exclaimed as Koharu slowly nodded with an irritated frown. The three companions turned in interest.

Danzo turned to him in horror, as if Sakumo had sprouted a second head right before his eyes. "You can't mean…"

The round shinobi scratched the side of his head with an index finger. "He does look an awful lot like sensei."

Sakumo never wished more for a jutsu that would let him disappear then in that moment. He stood alone as five pairs of eyes stared at him with the same look he had seen children gaze at caged beasts—a wary, thrilled interest. Never before in his life had he received so much attention in one day. The ache for his mother's soothing presence grew sharper in his stomach. How could she leave him so alone?

It was Koharu who eventually stepped in to brush the silent awkwardness between them all away—waving a hand limply as if destroying a cobweb.

"All right leave him alone," she sighed, nudging past the taller shinobi to stand beside him. "Sakumo's a boy not a performing monkey."

"Speaking of monkeys…" Kagami said, a glint sparking devilishly in his eyes. "What do you think Tobirama-sensei has cooked up for poor Sarutobi?"

Danzo shrugged in disinterest. "It will be no more then the idiot deserves."

Homura's glasses glinted as he pushed them further up his nose. "I can guarantee he will wish he never stepped a foot outside of the village by the time sensei is done."

Sakumo did not know whether he felt tense from the guilt of causing one of his rescuer's so much pain or from fear he had a father capable of causing such terror. Koharu's forehead protector flashed in the dying light as she tossed her bangs back in dismissal. "Hiruzen will bounce back just like he always does."

"Wait a second," the roundest shinobi turned to her, his small eyes squinted in suspicion. "How come you aren't being punished?"

Koharu scoffed. " _I'm_ not being groomed to become the next hokage am I, Torifu."

Sakumo noted Danzo's face contort as if he had bitten into something sour.

"KOHARU UTATANE! YOU ARE DEAD!" A shrill voice broke across the sky, forcing a flock of birds to flee from a nearby tree. Sakumo watched with interest as Koharu visibly paled as the others around her struggled to contain their smirks. A woman nearly identical to Koharu approached with a killing intent that practically exhumed from her small frame. The kunoichi swore quietly under her breath.

"What do you want, Ima?"

Her sister's face twisted in anger as her fists settled on her hips. "What do I want?!" She growled. "I want to know what the hell you are doing out of your hospital bed!?"

Koharu shrugged. "I felt better!"

Ima looked ready to strangle her. If Sakumo had not seen Koharu in action he might have considered Ima a serious threat.

"Do you know how bad it makes me look loosing a patient? Do you!?" Ima howled, her hands waving wildly in the air, causing her short uniform to rise slightly higher up her thighs. The four men of the group were watching her with an appreciative interest Sakumo could not quite understand. "I always cover for you with Mama. No more! Now I'm telling her every time you come home with even a scratch!"

"Oh come on Ima," Koharu protested, as her sister turned to storm away. "Ima I didn't mean to—" But her sister furiously ignored her as she stomped away. Koharu swore again as she was forced to give chase.

"Where the hell are you going?" Danzo growled.

"To _fucking_ stop her!" Koharu shouted.

Sakumo was left with the four strangers—watching Koharu grow smaller with a strange feeling of complete abandonment. He barely noticed as they began walking again, his legs automatically moving without any assistance from his brain.

"You okay kid?" Kagami finally asked, though Sakumo only heard his voice from what sounded like a great distance.

Torifu hit him upside the head, his eye twitching in annoyance. "He just found out Tobirama-sensei is his father. Would you be okay?"

Kagami glared, but quickly changed tactics when he read the blank expression on Sakumo's face.

"Don't worry kid, Tobirama-sensei is not usually that bad! He just doesn't like being caught of guard like that. I think you'll really like him!"

"Kagami," Homura sighed warningly. "It may not be that simple."

The dark haired shinobi looked up in surprise. "Why not? He's his son isn't he?"

Homura rolled his eyes to the sky as if seeking patience there. "Don't you think if he wanted a family, he would have had one by now? He's never really gotten over Lady Yuri after all."

For the most part, Sakumo listened to them with a detached interest, following the four with a body that felt like it belonged to someone else.

"Who is Lady Yuri?" He asked, noting how reverently Homura spoke her name.

"It's getting late we should take you the compound," Homura said quickly, realizing his mistake as Danzo glared daggers into his back.

"But…" Sakumo protested, but his companions were already moving ahead of him.

"You'll like the Senju compound," Torifu declared. "It's near the training grounds and Lady Mito always makes sure there is lots to eat."

"You'll be seeing a lot of Torifu," Kagami mockingly confided.

"I'm staying with the Senju?" Sakumo asked in shock. Kagami smiled enthusiastically.

"Of course! Lady Mito wouldn't have it any other way."

"Who's Lady Mito?" He asked, half expecting his question to be brushed aside again, but Kagami answered happily.

"Lady Mito is Hashirama's wife. You'll get to meet Ryuu and Katsuro and little Tsunade too and of course Old Man Butsuma."

"Probably not him," Homura interjected quickly. "He mostly keeps to himself. He's practically ancient."

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

The wealthiest man in Sakumo's village was Yoshikazu Ono, the butcher. He had made a grand house for his wife right in the middle of their village for all to see. Sakumo had thought he would never see anything else so large, but the massive Senju compound that spread before him made the butcher's house appear little more then a shabby shack. Sakumo stopped in his tracks, taking in the massive walls and decorative gardens, forcing the four older shinobi to brush past him with casual disinterest. They made their way to a woman with the reddest hair Sakumo had ever seen. She sat with a young toddler in her lap, handing her bits of seed to toss into a pond filled with hungry koi.

"Lady Mito!" Kagami waved as they approached. "We have a surprise for you!"

The woman looked up with interest as the toddler continued playing with the fish.

Sakumo had never seen the Daimyo's wife before but he could not imagine she could be anymore regal than the woman that sat before them.

"A surprise?" She repeated, smiling kindly.

"May I present to you Sakumo Hatake—the newest member of _your_ family." Kagami introduced with an overly ornate bow, clearly enjoying the showmanship. Sakumo felt his cheeks burn a deep crimson, as Lady Mito rested her serene gaze on him.

Her eyes grew slightly wider as she took in his appearance. Slowly, she stood, ignoring the toddler's protest as she raised her up on her hip. Lady Mito took a step closer and lifted Sakumo's chin with a delicate hand.

"How miraculous," she murmured, her voice so soft that Sakumo was not even sure he heard her correctly. The toddler wiggled against her grip, stretching her tiny arms out to Sakumo with a grabbing motion.

"Kitty," the toddler shrilled as she leaned closer, trying to grab at Sakumo's hair. Sakumo stood perfectly still; wearily unsure of what to do about the sticky fingers trying to swipe at his head.

"No Tsunade," Lady Mito chided gently, pulling the little girl away. "This is Sakumo."

"Mo-mo." The little girl repeated this new information with a frown, clearly confused.

"Forgive us, Sakumo. She thinks anything with white hair is the house cat. There are days Tobirama can't get her off of him."

Sakumo blinked in surprise at the mention of the white-haired Senju and then leaned forward within reaching distance of the toddler. Tsunade gave a shrill of delight as she buried her tiny fingers into his unruly tresses.

"I don't mind," he gritted, as she pulled hard against the roots. He wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling.

"You are very kind, Sakumo," Mito smiled. "And very welcome here."

A gentle cling of a distant bell interrupted the tranquility of the garden, immediately capturing little Tsunade's attention. Mito gently set her down into the grass, allowing her to determinately toddle towards the main house.

"What wonderful timing," she declared. "Will you be joining us for dinner, gentleman?"

Torifu began to eagerly follow the blonde toddler, when Danzo sharply pulled him back. Homura gave a polite bow.

"I'm afraid we are going to have to find Hiruzen and cut him down from whatever tree Tobirama-sensei has left him hanging by his thumbs in." He explained, as they moved towards the gate.

Lady Mito frowned for a moment. "What could Hiruzen possibly have done?"

"It's a _long_ story," Kagami called over his shoulder as he followed his companions out the gate.

Lady Mito led him through a maze of hallways and chambers, finally stopping at a large room overlooking an intimate courtyard with a single cherry blossom tree producing its first blooms of the spring.

"You can clean up here before dinner, Sakumo." She explained, pushing him gently forward. "I will have a room prepared for you while we eat." She moved silently to the hallway. "A servant will be around to lead you to the dining room.

The room smelled different then the rest of the compound—like the air before a great rainstorm. He breathed in deeply, allowing the comforting scent to calm his tired nerves. His muscles ached as if he had been training with his grandfather all day and there was a slight throbbing in his side.

He moved wearily to the washbasin in the corner of the room. The water felt wonderfully brisk against the heat of his cheeks and Sakumo could admit to feeling slightly better. As he dried his face in wonderfully soft linen, he spied a great suit of armor blinking in the dying light. Sakumo drew closer to examine the magnificent piece that looked as if it belonged on a hero from a mythical tale. Each piece of armor was perfectly plated for swift efficient movement and despite the numerous scratches across the entirety; its deep blue sheen gleamed. He had never seen such wealth in one place! His hand reached out of its own accord to run along a particularly deep gash on the chest that would have meant certain death if the wearer had been without armor.

It was a polite cough that drew Sakumo sheepishly away from his open-mouthed admiration. A young woman with mousy features stood in the doorway, with hands neatly clasped in front of a starched white apron.

"Dinner is about to be served if you are hungry, young master." She said, her voice respectfully neutral. Sakumo resisted the urge to check behind him to make sure she wasn't addressing someone else. He had never been called a _young master_ before. His mother had always simply yelled to call him in from the fields.

A hungry grumble from his stomach echoed in the room and the woman nodded in understanding as she began to walk down the hall. Sakumo scrambled to follow, running an agitated hand through his hair in the hopes he did not look half as out of place in the grand manor as he felt.

Lady Mito and Lord Hashirama were talking quietly to themselves when Sakumo arrived. Steaming dishes waited patiently on the large table. Sakumo greatly feared the silence he would be met with when he entered, but that fear was immediately dissipated when the First Hokage, sitting, at the head of the table, noticed his entrance.

"Sakumo, my boy! Welcome!" He greeted, enthusiastically waving him to an empty zabuton. Sakumo quickly settled into the empty space, tucking his legs beneath him as his mouth watered at the delicious food weighing down the table.

"I must apologize," the Shodaime continued. "If I had any idea who you were, we would have had a great banquet prepared for your homecoming—not that terrible interrogation in the office!"

Sakumo managed to pull his eyes away from the food for a moment; only to jump in surprise at the man who suddenly had his head bowed despairingly against the table in deep shame.

"It's all right…I didn't know I was coming," he managed to mumble stupidly. He could barely believe that he was talking to the God of Shinobi—and now said god was apologizing to _him_.

"You are getting hair in the rice, my love." Mito chided softly, barely batting an eyelash at the sight of her husband prostrated across the table. Hashirama immediately straightened, returning to a perfect picture of poise.

"Hiruzen explained the unfortunate circumstances," Hashirama said, clasping his hands together. "Yet I can only—"

"What the heck are _you_ doing here?" A familiar annoying voice interrupted from the doorway. Sakumo looked up in surprise at the boy he had shared a hospital room with looked him up and down as if he had somehow managed to sneak into dinner without anyone else noticing.

"Ryuu!" Mito quickly scolded, her tone sharper then Sakumo had thought possible. "There is no reason to be so rude."

Ryuu managed to look sheepish as he took the zabuton across from Sakumo. "But this is the kid I was telling you about from the hospital!"

Mito gave him a warning glare. "Well Sakumo will be staying with us from now on—and I expect him to be treated with greater courtesy."

Ryuu looked prepared to protest, but thought better of it, closing his mouth sullenly. Sakumo tried to mask his relief as the boy stared obnoxiously across the table at him. They were soon joined by two more members of the family. Tsunade quickly took the place next to Sakumo, her eyes beaming keenly up at his hair, while her mother settled slowly next to Ryuu. Kaede, merely acknowledged Sakumo's presence with a nod before warning Tsunade to sit still. Sakumo noted with interest how she cradled the small bump of her stomach as if it were a child already born.

"Shall we begin?" Hashirama laughed, reaching for the nearest steaming plate of fish.

"What about Tobirama?" Mito asked quickly, though most members of the family had already grabbed for a dish.

It did not escape Sakumo's notice that the Shodaime grimaced slightly at the mention of his absent brother, before quickly covering it up with a deprecating laugh. "You know him! Won't eat a bite until all the paperwork is done. He said he would be along soon."

Mito's nose twitched slightly as if smelling the lie off his breath, but she remained tactfully silent.

Dinner was filled with deliciously rich food and a barrage of questions about life in his little village. He managed to answer in-between bites of food, praying the deep blush on his cheeks did not give away his discomfort. The food slowly disappeared and servants came silently to take the empty dishes away.

"So your grandfather trained you," Hashirama said thoughtfully, crossing his arms. Sakumo nodded, scooping the last grains of rice into his mouth. He did not remember ever feeling so full in his entire life.

"Well we certainly can't let your training go to waste," He decided with eyes bright. "You're a little old for the academy, but I am sure we can find you a suitable teacher. I will discuss it with my brother. Perhaps you could even be on the same team as Ryuu."

The two boys grimaced at each other.

Dinner ended with long yawns and drooping lids. Sakumo was led to his room with a fully belly and content smile. He fell into his futon with relief and would have soon passed out if not for the irritating licking in his ear.

"What the hell, Tomo?" He grumbled, sitting up straight to get away from the little dog's reach. The pug padded lightly on the covers, sniffing around the room delicately.

"This smells much nicer then the farm," he finally declared. "I can't smell a pig for miles."

"Good for you," Sakumo yawned, compulsively happy and irritated to see the dog all at once.

"I still cannot find Tobirama," Tomo sniffed, showing his teeth in his own form of irritation. "He hides his scent well."

Sakumo frowned at the mention of the stoic shinobi. In a way, he was everything Sakumo imagined. The purest form of a shinobi—cool and composed. Sakumo thought of the fathers of his village. The ones with their back stooped from a long day in the field, their faces dark and wrinkled by the sun. They were broken, tired creatures and yet they managed to stand a little straighter when their sons and daughters ran into their arms, their faces a little brighter. Remembering his cold distance and stern manner, he could not imagine Tobirama standing in the same category as these fathers.

"He won't help," Sakumo growled, pulling his legs up to his chest. "All he cares about is making sure people don't break any stupid rules."

Tomo licked his chops in exasperation. "You would not be the first to underestimate his capacity to care, boy. If I just explain…"

Sakumo turned to the dog in fury, the tiredness replaced with a flashing anger. "What can he do?! My mother and grandfather are dead and he can't bring them back! He accused me of being a spy. He could not care less even if I am his son."

Tomo's ears drooped in discomfort. "It will take time—" The pug began, but Sakumo was done listening. His family was dead. His image of a father was shattered. And he was stranger in a strange land.

The old pug backed away slowly, his jowls pulled down in a solemn frown. Humans could be as stubborn as cats sometimes.

"I'd like to be alone," Sakumo said, his voice barely above a whisper. The little pug nodded in understanding.

"I will see you in the morning, boy." Tomo said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sakumo brushed the last wisps of smoke away with a determined hand. All thoughts of sleep were gone from his mind, replaced by a single image. The face of the man with the x-shaped scar on his cheek was seared into his brain—giving him the same taunting smile he had used on his mother. There was a rage in Sakumo that he never felt before—pulling at his muscles and causing his fists to curl tight. He had never felt such an urge to kill—to see that haunting smile go slack on a lifeless face. How could he think of sleep when his mother's killer still walked on this earth?

In a moment of perfect clarity his mind went blank. He knew what needed to be done.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Koharu was out of the house before her mother could get in one more threat of marrying her off to the fish merchant's son. Her long-winded lecture on the virtues of marriage was enough to make the cold spring night feel warm and inviting.

 _You deserve to be surrounded by children, leave these dangerous missions to the men!_

She tried to dull the sound of her mother's voice with the piercing slings of kunai thudding into the small wooden targets of a small training ground nearby.

 _Thump_

Her entire life had been an uphill battle. No one thought she was capable of becoming a nin and certainly no one thought she was worthy of becoming Tobirama's student. She had had to work ten times as hard as her classmates to prove them all wrong.

 _Thump_

But hard work hardly ever matched up against raw talent. She frowned at the memory of the weakness in her knees after the transportation jutsu. How did sensei make it look so easy?

 _Thump_

A flash of white caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She resisted the urge to grimace. Speak of the devil…

She continued her practice, ignoring his presence. She let them fly as easily as she breathed. It had always been an excellent release of her frustration when there was no one around to punch.

 _Thump_

"You're upset," her sensei said finally. She did not need to look over to know he stood with arms casually crossed in his typical dark uniform, his hair the only thing truly visible in the moonlit field.

She paused. All the irritation she had been trying to dispense returning to her in full force. She turned to him with a glare, her eyes flashing with temper.

"What gave it away," she said, her voice unamused and flat.

He sighed and walked towards her. She watched him approach with the instinctive wariness of prey. He stopped only moments away from her and she resisted the urge to look him appreciatively up and down. He looked far more human without his armor and happuri—much more approachable than the war god she saw on missions.

And a little more vulnerable.

She felt her harsh stance involuntarily loosen. "You never said anything about the months you were missing," she said, her voice soft and almost lost in the night.

He rumpled his thick silver hair and let out a resigned sigh.

"I'm not here to talk about that, Koharu," he said, his voice gentle but firm.

She gave a bitter smile and crossed her arms in a pale imitation of his own bearing.

"All right," she said, gaining confidence from her anger and frustration. "Let's talk about something else. How about the long lost son you are ignoring?"

Tobirama frowned. "I have yet to come up with a practical solution to handle the situation."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was a strange feeling to have to be his voice of reason. "There is no _practical_ solution to this situation, sensei. You have a son who has just lost his mother and entire way of life—the least you could do is acknowledge him."

Tobirama looked pained. They both knew it was not so simple. He was far too broken to allow someone in so easily—even his own flesh and blood. Koharu let out a long, deep breath allowing her anger to seep away from her. Attacking was not the way to get to her sensei.

"Start small," she advised, her eyes softening. "Like you did with us."

She gave a small laugh in remembrance and Tobirama caught himself thinking her hair looked like melted gold in the moonlight. "I used to be so jealous of Hiruzen when you became our sensei. Everyone knew he was your favorite and I simply felt the deck being stacked higher against me."

Tobirama remained silent, intrigued by her sudden confession and the steely gleam in her eye.

"I was determined that I wouldn't care if you ignored me for Hiruzen and Homura. I decided that it wouldn't get to me. But then I was injured on our first mission to the Land of Hills and when I woke up you were there. I thought you were going to kick me off the team."

Tobirama lifted an eyebrow, but remained silent.

"But you merely glared and ordered me to never scare you like that again," she finished. One of her most cherished memories was of him petting her on her head before leaving. As a young girl had she already known she loved him?

For a moment he so still his pale skin could have almost been made of marble.

"You have always been beyond my comprehension, Koharu," he said, stoically. She sighed in exasperation; he would have everyone believe he truly was made from stone.

"I mean you show us you care in small gestures and words. Show that to him!" She snapped. "Why are you so afraid to be a father?"

"Because I've been a father before," he said distinctly, eyes narrowed. The warm night air suddenly turned cold—almost glacial. It was as if his words had summoned the ghost of his dead wife and son to stand between them.

She had never seen him grieve properly over them—over anything. It was as though all such feeling was thrown into the depths of an internal well and the more emotion that poured in, the deeper down he dug.

One day he would not longer be able to dig any deeper.

He was barely a breath away from her; all she had to do was raise herself up on her toes to reach his lips. She wondered for a moment what would happen if she took all the control away from him. Would he forgive her? She thought back to the years it took for him to allow her to get this close…was it worth throwing all that away for a simple moment of retaliation?

Her feet remained firmly planted on the ground. She suddenly felt very tired.

"He isn't a replacement, sensei." She said her voice clipped and distant as she turned towards home.

Tobirama watched her disappear into the dark of the night and resisted the urge to follow her. He had come here to admonish her for risking her life so carelessly—for nearly giving him a heart attack. He wanted to take her into his arms and tell her to never scare him like that again—as he did when she was a child. But it had been some time since she was that little girl and he was that young man.

Now she was fierce and he was made of stone.

He decided to walk back to the compound rather then simply use his transportation jutsu. He needed time to think. The moment he had seen the boy, he should have known. He should have remembered.

 _Kana_

She had rescued him when he was near death. He had cared so little for his life at the time, taking every near suicidal mission he could find, ignoring his brother's protest. Life had not been worth living then. But she would not accept him giving up. She fought him tooth and nail to keep him away from Death's doorstep. He had awoken from his haze to eyes dark and determined and a face almost ethereal.

He had never planned for a life to be born from his weak desperation and her solemn loneliness.

He bit back a growl as the image of the boy came to mind—staring at him with such powerful fury. The Senju compound appeared far too suddenly for his liking and he narrowed his eyes at the oil lamps burning for his return. They were too warm and inviting for his black mood.

As he was deciding to turn around and return to the darker edge of the village, a small crash of movement caught his attention from one of the higher windows. He watched with mild interest as the boy carefully stepped down the shear wall, his body perfectly perpendicular to the stone. He resisted the urge to feel impressed at the boy's remarkable chakra control.

Sakumo's brow was furrowed in deep concentration, remaining ignorant of his audience. A small sack was draped at his side—so the boy was running away.

Tobirama entertained the thought of letting him go. It was a practical end to the problem if he merely disappeared into the night.

 _Coward_. A voice, Koharu's, called in his head. He grimaced—when had he allowed her to become the voice of his conscience?

"Hold," Tobirama commanded, when the boy had made it safely to the ground. The boy's shoulders immediately seized and for a moment he remained perfectly still.

Silence reigned for what felt like eternity. Finally, the boy turned with a fierce look of determination on his face.

The boy has her eyes, he thought with a start.

"What do you think you're doing sneaking around in the middle of the night?" He demanded, folding his arms.

The boy lifted one eyebrow, as if he considered the answer obvious.

"I'm leaving. I'm going to find that murderer and make him pay," he answered, his eyes flashing, daring the older shinobi to try and stop him.

Tobirama eyes narrowed. He did not appreciate the unspoken challenge.

"From what Hiruzen has told me, I doubt you would stand much of a chance against him," Tobirama said flatly.

The boy bristled. "I know how to fight!"

In an instant Sakumo was on his back, the great weight of a foot pressed harshly against his chest. He looked up with pure fury as the older white-haired shinobi stared calmly down at him with arms neatly folded.

"I don't think you do," Tobirama stated, his voice dangerously low. Slowly, he released his weight from the boy's chest and allowed Sakumo to stand. Sakumo's eyes were little more then slits.

"You're nothing like I thought you would be," Sakumo growled.

"I have no intention of meeting your expectations," Tobirama said calmly. It was for the best, he thought, to dispel the boy's fantastical notions.

"Fine," Sakumo said coldly. "Then let me go."

"That does not mean I will allow you to go on a suicide mission. You are far too young to be throwing away your life so needlessly."

Sakumo resisted the urge to roll his eyes in frustration. He was always too _young_.

Too young to be a shinobi.

Too young to save his mother.

And now too young to avenger her.

"I can't let him get away with this," Sakumo breathed, lowering his head in defeat as he realized Tobirama was not going to budge.

"I'm not keeping you here to sit around all day and get fat on large meals," Tobirama sighed, his eyes suspiciously bright. "You will train here until you can prove to me that you are capable of taking out the scum."

Sakumo's head lifted sharply in surprise.

"That is of course, if I don't get to him first."

I apologize about the incredibly late post. This chapter really got away from me!

Allein, NarutoFan2018, Yukina. T, panther73110: Thank you for the reviews! Far more Tobirama and Sakumo in the next chapters I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

The man with the x-shaped scar waited with a patient smile as the shinobi slowly bled out at his feet. The blood felt warm and sticky as it dried on his hands, but he hardly minded. He had been raised on this sort of work.

"You're not from any village," the dying man breathed, his words strained with anger and blood loss. The scarred victor stared down at his opponent, leaning gingerly on one leg. A kunai had sliced across his thigh barely missing an artery. He cursed his clumsiness, but remained smiling down at the man whose eyes had become glassy. A forehead protector fell loosely across his neck, glinting to catch his attention.

"I would not dishonor my clan so by ignoring the sacrifices of my ancestors and signing treaties for peace," the scarred man said, half-surprised at his own anger. It had been so many years; he thought the rage had simmered into a cold revenge, but the sight of the Leaf nin hit a nerve.

"Do you think you will be much longer?" He inquired politely, leaning his head to the side as if to gage how many breaths the dying man had left. It felt like one too many.

The dying man laughed bitterly, spitting up blood. "You got somewhere else to be?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," he answered, leaning against a tree as his adrenaline began to fade and the throbbing in his leg grew more painful. "You see you are simply one check on a long list of people I plan to kill."

The dying man coughed, this time the blood spattered onto the scarred man's robe. He frowned in annoyance.

"It _felt_ like you had it out for me," he rasped, knowing the bodies of his two comrades lay dead nearby.

The scarred man smiled. "It is not your fault you hail from the clan that has brought me such pain—but it is often the innocent who have to pay the ultimate price."

The light in the dying man's eyes began to fade. He was beyond hearing the humming of the man with the x-shaped scar.

"You will not be lonely in your grave long." He promised, his mind already conjuring the face of his next victim—the one who got away.

But the dying man no longer cared about the man slowly dimming from his vision. Instead, he used his last heartbeats to think on a beautiful blonde playing in the garden with her ethereal mother, a woman round with a child that he knew in his heart would be a son.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Hashirama sat quietly at his desk, sneaking concerned glances at his younger brother in-between the piles of paperwork. It did not take a genius to know Tobirama had not returned home for a few days now. Dark circles loosened the sharpness around the garnet eyes and the palest hint of a beard bristled from his jaw.

Yet business continued as usual.

Papers were neatly ordered in carefully considered stacks and a summary of the disastrous events of the Kage Summit waited for his final approval before being sent to the heads of the village clans. Tobirama leaned against the desk tapping a finger methodically against the surface as he listed the foreseeable repercussions of the failed negotiations. It was the only sign the lack of sleep was fraying his nerves.

Hashirama steepled his fingers as he rested his elbows on the desk, trying to concentrate on his brother's sobering predictions. It was proving difficult. His mind kept jumping to the young boy, the spitting image of his brother when they were children, and his heart pounded with joy. His prayers had been answered.

There would be someone for Tobirama when he was dead and gone. Someone for him to cherish and protect. The weakness left in him from his battle with Madara had not faded and the wounds refused to heal—though that was a secret that had only been shared with Mito. He had no need of a medic to tell him he was not long for this world.

"He doesn't like peas," Hashirama interjected suddenly, lifting his chin as if an idea had just occurred to him. A muscle worked in the white-haired shinobi's jaw, but Hashirama continued. "It's funny. I remember Mother didn't like peas either."

Tobirama reined in his irritation enough to speak. "Are you at all capable of turning this into an intelligent conversation?"

Hashirama leaned back in his chair with an amused half-smile. "Your son doesn't like peas," he explained with a teasing slowness that made his brother's eyebrow twitch. "I thought that might interest you, seeing has how you have managed to miss dinner three days in a row now."

Tobirama shuffled the papers in his hands as he dismissed his brother's obvious scolding. "We are likely on the brink of war, brother. The boy's pickiness seems rather small in comparison to the possible destruction of our village."

His older brother let out a long weary breath. "You are always about the big picture," he grumbled. Tobirama didn't see any reason to honor this with a reply.

"In regards to our missing team, I suggest we send Hiruzen, Homura and Danzo as part of the search team."

Hashirama quirked an eyebrow. "Not Koharu? Her tracking skills would be useful."

Tobirama did not look up from the paperwork in his hand. "She has not been cleared for missions yet."

The older Senju brother leaned back in the chair shaking his head with a sudden weariness. His brother did not forget and he certainly did not forgive easily. Removing Koharu from the team assignment would be her punishment for her rogue mission with Hiruzen.

"Very well." Hashirama conceded. "Though I would advise you be far from the office when she discovers she's been kicked from the mission."

Tobirama was too distracted by a yawn to answer.

"Go home, brother," Hashirama sighed, snatching the pile of paper from his younger brother's hand. "Believe it or not I can run the village for an hour or two on my own."

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

By Sakumo's fourth day in the Senju compound, he was thoroughly convinced the servants had an agenda to see him die of boredom. Up until this point in his life, his days had been filled with chores on their small farm and training with his grandfather. He had never been given the opportunity to sit still.

He was beginning to thoroughly hate it.

There were no chickens to feed. No meals to help cook. And no one to take the slightest interest in his training. Sakumo grimaced as the morning sun fell across his bed and covered his eyes with a groan. Tobirama had promised he would be trained.

And yet he had not seen the white-haired Senju since the night he foiled his escape.

Maybe you're too much of a weakling to train, reasoned his inner voice. Tobirama had moved so fast, not even giving him a chance to put up a fight. Maybe that had sealed his fate.

Sentenced to death by boredom for the crime of being a long-lost son with little promise. He groaned again.

Fortunately, it was at this moment Ryuu decided to clamber loudly down the hall, kicking a ball off the walls as he went. Sakumo's head lifted with interest as the red ball flew into his room, missing his shoulder by mere inches. Ryuu skidded to a halt as he realized whose room he was entering.

The easygoing face scrunched together slightly, either in annoyance or anger Sakumo could not be sure.

"So this is where you've been hiding," he finally snorted, bending down to pick up the ball. Sakumo stiffened.

"I haven't been hiding," he snapped. "I just don't want to get in any bodies way."

Ryuu rolled his eyes, passing the ball from one hand to the other as he spoke. "What do the servants care? They're instructed to stay out of your way not the other way around farm-boy."

Sakumo bristled. There was a distinct difference in Ryuu's manner from when they were in the hospital together. Then it had been Ryuu's presence that caused a fiery annoyance within him—now it seemed the roles had been reversed. There was an inexplicable urge to throw out an assortment of names at him, but—

 _Saku, if you can't say something nice…_

He resigned himself to merely flopping back down on the bed, perfectly willing to ignore the other presence in the room. But the presence would not leave.

"Is it true what they're saying?" Ryuu asked, his voice suddenly soft. Sakumo tilted his head up slightly to get a better look at the boy who towered over him.

"Is what true?" He asked, allowing his hackles to lower.

"That you—that you're Uncle Tobirama's son." He managed to push all the words out as if he could not wait to get rid of them.

Sakumo's eyebrow twitched. "Supposedly."

"So that makes us cousins," Ryuu sighed, sitting on the bed as if the confirmation made him too weary to stand. "Crazy."

Sakumo looked him up and down with steeled suspicion. "Do you have split personalities or something?"

"What?"

"A minute ago you looked ready to start a fight and now we are practically cuddling." Sakumo explained, watching with satisfaction as Ryuu leapt to his feet with a speed he had not thought him capable of.

"Maybe it's just hard to resign myself to being related to a country hick like you!" Ryuu shot back. His face had lot most of the animosity, replaced with a more teasing anger. Sakumo felt tensed muscles relaxing. Leaping to his feet, he took possession of the ball from Ryuu's grip, careful not to jog the bandaged hand.

"It's going to be even harder to swallow when I beat you," He smirked, kicking the ball as it dropped—the universal sign the ball was in play and the rules of war prevailed.

The two bodies clashed as they tried to make it through the doorway together, the ball flying far from their reach. Elbows jostled soft flesh as legs were kicked from underneath them, pushing them into a graceless pile as they fell into the hall.

Sakumo was the first to scramble to his feet, following the ball at a break neck speed as it continued to roll farther away. Ryuu appeared at his heels, shouting obscenities as he tried to pull Sakumo down by the collar. But Sakumo was just a hair faster. In moments they were atop the ball, kicking and clawing it away from one another as they reached the edge of the hall. It would either fly out into the courtyard or down another long hallway of rooms; it was simply a matter of will.

With a forceful kick, the ball flew from the tangle, rolling speedily down the unusually empty corridor. Sakumo was off in an instance, racing down the ball for the sheer delight of movement that had been denied him for days. He was far too euphoric to notice the hallway darken as he followed the ball or the hesitant pause of his cousin as it rolled into the room at the end of the hall.

"Sakumo we shouldn't—" But the high timber of his cousin's voice was ignored as he sped into the room with the confidence of a victory.

The ball sat still in the darkness of the room like grazing prey. Sakumo smiled triumphantly as he made to pick it up, until a single pale, frail hand shot out from the darkness grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and jerking him backward with surprising strength.

"What's this?" A voice rumbled feebly, like a storm dying in the atmosphere. Sakumo jerked, trying to pull away but the grip remained firm on his collar. "An intruder!"

"I'm not a—".

It was only his quick reflexes and intuition into the temper of old men that saved Sakumo from the cane baring down at him with alarming speed. The aging corpse before him frowned through eyes buried in wrinkles.

Ryuu could only watch helplessly as Butsuma Senju raised his cane to land another strike, a curse to all youths leaving his lips with the rasp of falling sand. It was said his grandfather was once a great shinobi, but he had not been quite right in the head since the loss of his leg. Ryuu had always assumed his uncle had inherited his white hair from Butsuma, it wasn't until he found a rather old photograph that he realized his hair had once been as black as his own father's.

Sakumo dodged again as the moving carcass struck. "Cut it out, old man!"

The corpse stiffened. "Old man? Old man! Why you little urchin. I am the great Butsuma Senj! I have razed villages and destroyed generations of shinobi all while leading the greatest clan on this earth!" The cane came down again with a greater furry. Sakumo slipped back a little further, causing the old man to lose balance, effectively toppling him into a white heap on the floor.

Ryuu blanched as his life flashed before his eyes—fully certain the old man was going to kill them both as soon as he struggled back to his feet. Sakumo, a veteran of his own grandfather's tantrums, merely sighed and knelt down to help the old cadaver up.

Butsuma refused his hand with a murderous glare.

Rising with a painful slowness, he appraised Sakumo, his milky eyes squinting over him as if he were a new species of rat that had entered his quarters.

"You look suspiciously like one of my sons," he said finally, fingering his cane thoughtfully. Sakumo glared back, but this only caused him to laugh, revealing toothless gums. "The one who was always so quietly defiant."

Ryuu, with the self-assurance of still being alive, stepped respectfully before his grandfather. "This is Sakumo Hatake. He's Uncle Tobirama's son."

The old man's thick, white eyebrows raised a fraction as he scratched the wrinkles that made up his chin. "I thought that child died. Too weak like his mother."

Sakumo's eyes shifted in confusion to Ryuu who visibly cringed.

"Much like you father I have been granted more then one." A deep voice interrupted.

The two boys turned to the doorway where Tobirama leaned with arms crossed. He wore a frightfully heavy, bloodshot look as he stared over their heads at his crippled father.

The toothless grin remained firm in the folds of Butsuma's sagging cheeks. "I thought I recognized that pigheaded glare in him."

Tobirama ignored the remark, instead narrowing his eyes at the two boys. Only one had the common sense to look contrite.

Sakumo's head remained defiantly high.

The white-haired shinobi stepped away from the door with a sigh, dismissing the boys with a firm nod of his head. The pair quickly scrambled through the door, thankful for an excuse to leave the presence of the old man.

Tobirama made to follow, but the irritating sound of chuckling caught his attention.

"Something amusing?" He asked, his voice carefully disinterested. Butsuma's long jowls jiggled as he continued to laugh. Tobirama sighed, turning away once more. Perhaps the old man had finally lost _all_ of his senses.

The laughter died. "I always thought you were better off without children, Tobirama. You care too fiercely—like the damn Uchiha. That's why I saw no point in your union with Yuri. Your notion of love leads to violent ends."

Tobirama stalked away without answering, his fists clenched. If he stayed in the room a moment longer he would merely prove his father right.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

"Good morning, Miss Koharu!" A cheerful voice greeted from behind the counter, as the kunoichi entered the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Hello Misa," she said, returning the smile with a pained one of her own. She had long given up on begging Misa to drop the honorific. It was time to accept they would never go back to Koharu and Misa the Inseparable.

It was an indescribable hell to walk into the shop every week and be greeted by a best friend who no longer recognized you.

"I have your order ready." Misa presented the small bouquet of white irises to her in the same cheerfully distant manner as she did every week. Koharu accepted them gratefully, careful not to touch Misa as she grabbed the bouquet and placed the money on the counter. She could not bear to see the confused fear in her friend's eyes every time a stranger touched her. She could not bear to see the once indomitable kunoichi crumble to the ground in hysterics.

"It's funny…" Misa said in an uncharacteristic moment of chattiness. "There's a gentleman who comes in here every week to buy the same flowers. I guess I'm not the only one who loves them."

Koharu paused for a moment at the door. So Kagami came to check in on her as well. She wondered if he felt like a fist had pounded into his chest every time _he_ left the shop.

Death had been far too good for those mercenaries.

Misa bowed in farewell as Koharu hurried from the shop, suddenly unable to breath. Her disoriented pace from the shop nearly caused her to crash into Hiruzen, dressed in his full body armor.

"Hello, Koharu." He greeted as he neatly caught her arm.

As she regained her balance, she looked the Sarutobi up and down with confusion. "Are you being assigned a solo mission?"

Hiruzen hesitated, suddenly looking uncomfortably. His inability to meet her gaze only heightened her suspicion. "Well…not exactly. You see—"

"Hurry up, idiot!" The distinct growl of Danzo carried over the bustle of the street. Koharu looked past her teammate's shoulder to see Danzo and Homura waiting impatiently, similarly dressed in their battle armor. Her eyes narrowed.

"It's nothing personal, Koharu." Hiruzen gulped. He hoped she wasn't able to notice the beads of sweat appearing on his forehead as he tried to explain away her obvious exclusion. "I'm sure the Hokage just wants to give you some time to recover before assigning you a mission! I mean it's only been a few days since you were in the hospital."

The flowers folded with a sickening crunch as her hands balled into tight fists.

Hiruzen took a step back.

"The Hokage had nothing to do with this," she growled with the low fury of a tigress. "This was all _him_."

Hiruzen assumed as much as soon as he noticed Koharu's absence from the mission brief. It seemed their sensei had not forgiven Koharu for their impromptu mission after all. He had merely lulled her into a false sense of security.

Hiruzen shook his head.

While his punishment had taken a physical toll it was obvious that Tobirama knew cutting her from a mission would be a far more appropriate punishment for his most prideful student. Hiruzen regarded the crushed flowers with pity. It was only an inkling of what was in store for their sensei. It was probably for the best he was getting out of town—it was usually the innocent bystanders that ended up getting hurt in these situations.

Hiruzen tried to make his exit as casual as possible, his hands relaxed behind his back. "Right. Well we have to get going," he said, taking another large step back. But Koharu no longer noticed his presence, her thoughts far away.

"Took you long enough," Danzo snapped as Hiruzen ran to them. He frowned in irritation as Hiruzen continued to run past.

"Let's go!" He shouted over his shoulder. "I don't want to be anywhere near here when she finds sensei!"

In the end, it was the other Senju brother that bore most of the brunt of Koharu's cold fury. Hashirama was handing his cousin, Toka, the files on her three new students when the young kunoichi burst into the office. The two older shinobi blinked in surprise as the secretary flittered at Koharu's back in helpless distress.

Hashirama balked, sensing the storm that was about to break in his direction. Toka merely raised a slim eyebrow in mild surprise.

"Something we can help you with, Utatane?" Toka asked, her voice deceivingly level. Her dislike for the younger generations was well known and it had just been exasperated by the news she was being assigned a team of snot-nosed kids to teach. Koharu's breathing slowed and her posture straightened stiffly as if she were just released from a genjutsu.

"I'm looking for Tobirama-sensei." She said, her tone equally controlled despite her hands curled into fists. Toka shuffled the files in her hand, the only sign of her own irritation at the interruption. "As you can see he isn't here, Utatane. I suggest you knock next time. It will save you from looking foolish."

The younger kunoichi blinked meekly.

"Is there something _I_ can help you with?" Hashirama asked politely, though he immediately regretted it. Koharu's confident fury returned with the small reminder of her reason for being in the office in the first place.

"You assigned my team a mission without me," she said bluntly. "Why?"

Hashirama shifted uncomfortably under her unblinking gaze. He wondered if she had learned that look from his brother.

"Is that any way to talk to your Hokage?" Toka tsked loudly, but Koharu ignored her. Hashirama steepled his hands, resting them against his lips. He hoped it gave him the air of great wisdom while he frantically racked his brain for an excuse. Why had he sent Tobirama home again?

"We thought it best…"

"We?" Koharu repeated in disbelief.

"Maybe more Tobirama," he admitted slowly. "But as Hokage I…"

Koharu rolled her eyes. "He thinks he can _punish_ me for saving his son's life!"

"It's more the principle of the thing…" Hashirama doggedly continued. Koharu turned to the doorway where the secretary still flittered.

"I mean if people think they can just go on unsanctioned missions whenever they like where does it end…" Hashirama said raising his eyes to the ceiling as his voice lifted with the air of superiority. He took a deep breath for a rather impressive monologue about working together for the good of the village.

"She's gone sir." The secretary coughed politely. He felt himself deflate.

"Thank you, Miss. Ono," he mumbled, his head suddenly on his desk. Toka's eyes remained on the doorway, thoughtful..

"That little girl has finally decided to grow up," she said finally, turning her attention back to Hashirama.

The God of Shinobi lifted his head slightly. "How do you mean?"

"To be honest I never understood what Tobirama saw in her. She comes from a civilian background and has civilian emotions," she explained evenly, tucking the files beneath her arm. "I thought he was leading a sheep to the slaughter."

"What's changed your opinion?"

Toka shrugged. "She's breaking his carefully constructed mold. A few more years and he will have a _real_ fight on his hands."

Hashirama looked thoughtful, until the kunoichi broke the moment with a snort. "Looks like I'm going to have to wait in line to strangle him—assigning _me_ students. I'm too old for this!"

Hashirama leaned back in his chair. "Nonsense! There's no one else I trust to teach my son. And Tobirama agrees."

Toka reopened the files, flipping past Ryuu's page to stare at the photograph of a disheveled youth who stared unhappily back in a hospital gown. If it weren't for the cut of his black slate eyes she would have sworn she was looking at an image of Tobirama when they were kids.

"A Hatake huh," she laughed. "Who would have guessed that was his type? I thought all the women of that clan just stayed home embroidering and waiting for their husbands to return for a good fuck."

Hashirama glared at the vulgarity. "I'm sure she was very meaningful to him."

Toka rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a child, Hashirama. Sometimes you fuck just to fuck. And sometimes that means you end up with an unfortunate surprise." She tapped her chin. "Unusual for such a careful man."

Maybe Toka was not the best teacher for his son, Hashirama thought, wondering if it was too late to swipe back the files from her hand.

"Well," she shrugged, turning for the door. "What's done is done."

She stopped in the doorway, turning back to Hashirama with uncharacteristic concern. "Any word of Katsuro?"

Hashirama frowned at the mention of his eldest son. "His team is still missing. We've had no contact. I sent Hiruzen and the other's to provide back up for the Inuzuka search team."

She merely nodded before leaving. Silence was better then false comfort.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Tobirama tossed the red ball. Sakumo caught it before it flew into his head.

"Is this how you spend your time? Playing childish games and tormenting the elderly?" The white-haired shinobi snapped.

Sakumo frowned as he lowered the ball into his lap. "It was an accident! I didn't know you kept corpses around the house."

Tobirama studied him, a kind of war raging behind his tiger-eyes. Ryuu gurgled in what may have been a warning or merely nervous burping.

"Pray you have the fortune to live so long," Tobirama growled through gritted teeth. "Though the way you are testing me makes it seem unlikely."

Sakumo's eyes narrowed. "If you just trained me like you promised this wouldn't have happened!"

"Perhaps I have given you the impression that the world revolves around you," Tobirama said folding his arms. Ryuu visibly wilted. He was about to be caught in the middle of one of his uncle's infamous lectures. "It doesn't. This village was created to offer peace and order to a land that has never known such a thing. It does not function on hopes and dreams, but on hard work and structure. That leaves very little room for selfishness and luxury. Perhaps you were raised with the belief that the individual comes before the majority, knowing your grandfather that seems most likely, but here the village comes first. Until you can show me you are an asset to the village you are merely a hindrance."

Sakumo felt his face redden in a mixture of shame and anger. A hindrance!

"How can I show you I am an asset if you never give me a chance?" He snapped.

"I will expect your record to speak for itself. As of today you and Ryuu have been assigned to a three man team that will be trained by Toka Senju." He ignored the squeak of surprise from his nephew, who had until this point been trying to make himself as small as possible, and continued. "When she has deemed you ready, your team will be assigned missions that will contribute to the success of the village."

Tobirama looked down at the boy who appeared unimpressed.

"Is that a problem?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.

Sakumo rose to his feet, dusting the grass from his pants with a nonchalance that seemed inappropriate for someone facing one of the most dangerous shinobi in the world. The boy finally looked up at his sire with a cold flint that matched the fiery garnet of his father.

"I never signed up to help this stupid village," he said defiantly. "All I want is to take down the scumbag that murdered my family. If you can't help me do that, then I see no point in staying here."

Silence reigned. Not even the birds dared cut the tension and Ryuu prayed fervently to any god that was listening to literally be anywhere else at the moment.

It was Tobirama who finally broke the unholy silence, his pallid face calm and cruel as he spoke. "Then you are free to go."

In that moment, Sakumo needed no further encouragement. In an instant he was racing away from the garden, past the compound gate and into the bustling streets of the village. He could barely see where he was going through the blur of tears he refused to allow to fall. He ran out of breath at a small bridge overlooking the river that cut through the edge of the village. For a moment he merely stood as his heartbeat raced at the same pace as the swift moving water.

"You don't make life easy for this old dog," a voice admonished over the rush of moving water. Sakumo quickly kneaded his hands into his eyes, hoping he could wipe the tears away like dirt, as he noticed the little dog that appeared at his feet. "I've done more running in my retirement then I ever did as a nindog."

"Just chalk that up to another reason why I am a _hindrance_." Sakumo scowled. Tobirama's words had felt like a slap with every sentence. He would have taken a beating from that Old Man Senju's cane any day if it meant he never had to feel the sting of those words again.

"I shouldn't be here," Sakumo sulked, resting his chin over folded arms. "I should be out there looking for that x-faced bastard."

Tomo lifted his pudgy paws to rest on the lowest rung of the wooden bridge, his jowls flexing as particles of water splashed in his mouth. "I never understood how the human answer to death was always more death."

Sakumo bristled. "You think I should just stay here and do nothing! Just let my family's killer get away and spend my days forgetting anything ever happened?"

"It would be better then tarnishing your mother's memory with bloodshed." The little pug bit back with a growl. "All she ever wanted for you was to live a peaceful life away from the petty world of warring clans and dying children. Your father is offering you that life."

Sakumo turned is head away in disgust at the mention of the man. His mother had been right. His eyes _were_ the color of dried blood. "All he wants to do is keep me under his heel. We've barely even talked and all of a sudden he has my whole future planned out for me. He want's me to be the House dog when I was always taught to be the wolf!"

Tomo snorted dismissively causing snot to fly onto the boy's pants. "A stupid story. A chaffing collar seems a small price to pay to protect your home and family."

Sakumo pursed his lips for a moment. He had never thought of it like that.

The dog scratched behind his ear, the equivalent of a shrug. "I've also never understood human's affinity towards animal qualities. Your species have plenty of your own abilities that makes you fierce as any beast that roams this earth."

"You're awfully wise for one that always thinks his reflection is another dog." Sakumo said dryly.

Tomo sniffed. "One day you will thank me for such vigilance."

Sakumo laughed. He felt his muscles slowly relax as the boiling frustration seeped away from him. The river's breeze cooled his reddened face and he found he could breathe once more. He took in a long breath as he regained an even temper.

"I guess I could give this place a chance," He said reluctantly as he looked out to the village beyond.

"There's a good boy!" Tomo barked, rising to his feet.

"But that doesn't mean I have to like _him_." Sakumo said crossing his arms pointedly. "And as soon as I'm strong enough I'm going after that murderer."

"Obviously." The little dog smirked as he recalled the face of another white-haired boy that had stared at him with the same determination.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

"Who the hell does he think he is?" She snarled, forcing Kagami to duck quickly to avoid a foot to the face. "Stalling my career as a punishment!"

The Uchiha quickly took another step back as the other little foot made to connect with his jaw. He had long ago learned that it was best to take a more defensive approach when sparring with a fuming Koharu. Despite the bruises he usually walked away with, he enjoyed these little sessions. He had never known anyone else's eyes to spark like molten gold when they fought. It was rather fascinating to watch.

"Did you really think Tobirama-sensei would let you get away with risking your life like that?" He asked, stupidly.

This time a fist made a beeline for his gut. Kagami caught it with a grunt.

"You should know by now that he doesn't forgive easily." He said breathing heavily. They had been at this for hours now—ever since he had caught her on her way to murder Tobirama. Kagami personally thought their sensei should be kissing his feet for volunteering to be Koharu's human punching bag.

He _was_ saving the man's life after all!

"You don't think there should be some kind of exception for saving his own fucking kid!" Koharu gritted as she freed her fist from his tight grip.

"You are giving sensei far too much credit for being sentimental." Kagami said bluntly, quickly lowering himself to swipe his legs beneath her feet. She merely jumped, avoiding being knocked to the ground.

"It doesn't make you angry that the whole time he was gone—the whole time that we thought he was _dead_ —he was simply living this whole other life." She snapped, lifting an elbow to knock out his chin. He grunted as it grazed past his cheek instead.

"I saw her, Kagami," she hissed, rolling her shoulder back for another punch. "That woman was beautiful and he just left her as easily as he left us! What's to stop him from doing it again!"

The Uchiha sighed, swiping his head right. It appeared the kunoichi was not one to forgive and forget easily either. It was certainly her and her teammates who had suffered the most when Tobirama had failed to return from a mission those many years ago. They had walked around the village like ghosts then. Pale and lifeless, they had moved as if they no longer wanted to have anything to do with the living.

"Probably nothing," he admitted, lowering his arms for a cease-fire. Koharu reluctantly lowered her own. "But what does that change? Are you always going to live with this constant fear of being left behind or are you going to accept fate and live your life?"

Koharu's lips parted slightly in surprise. With her hair disheveled and pale skin shimmering from sweat, Kagami thought she looked particularly fuckable this evening.

As if sensing his thoughts, her kissable lips turned into a sharp frown. "I hate when you try to be wise."

"Who's trying?" He smirked, linking his hands behind his head. This earned an indulgent smile and a sharp prod to the rib. He might have just kissed her right there, if his focus was not interrupted by the insistent grumble of his stomach.

Koharu laughed. "I suppose buying you dinner is the least I could do for using you as a training dummy."

"My people prefer the term 'high-performance mannequins'." He sniffed, his handsome face mockingly haughty as his stomach growled again.

They ended up at a small ramen shop, frequented by shinobi for its proximity to the training grounds. It was also, unfortunately, the place of work of one of Koharu's other older sisters, Leiko. She had married the shop owner's son and could have passed as Koharu's double if she wasn't ten years older and eight months pregnant.

Leiko noticed them from across the counter as they slid into their usual booth. "Well, well, well," she called across the room as she wiped her hands on a dirty dishrag. "Wait till mother hears about this little date!"

Koharu merely moved her hand in an obscene gesture, her eyes never leaving the menu. Leiko tittered before turning hawk eyes to the wait staff.

"I love it when you act like a lady," Kagami said devilishly, resting his cheek in his hand with admiration.

Koharu glanced over at her sister rebuking her sniveling husband. "The whole family thinks that I just scare all the prospective men away. Like I threaten them with a kunai or something."

Kagami took a long drink of water. "You did punch that kid in the nose when he tried to kiss you outside of the academy." He reminded.

"That's when we were kids." She snorted. "And he had it coming!"

"Uh-huh," He smirked, pretending to return his attention to the menu. Instead, he was watching the little crease that appeared between Koharu's eyebrows when she was making important decisions. In this case it was deciding between beef or shrimp in her ramen. Kagami thoughtfully rolled his tongue over the bridge of his mouth as he covertly watched her. Maybe now was a good of time as any…

"Sakumo!" Koharu called out suddenly. Kagami looked up to see the skinny white-haired boy sulking past the open door. The boy blinked at her for a moment as if he had just been startled from a deep thought. Koharu gestured for the boy to sit beside her, pulling a fallen leaf from his hair as he sat. Kagami watched the scene in fascination. For a moment she almost looked motherly.

"Order something." She said, shoving a menu into the boy's face. "You look like a walking skeleton."

Sakumo looked over the menu hungrily before raising a suspicious eye at Kagami. "This isn't a date is it?"

Kagami felt the air leave his lungs. Koharu's laugh a punch in the gut.

She wiped a tear from her eye, still smiling. "This is my apology dinner to Kagami. I used him like a human punching bag today."

Sakumo nodded, attention returning to the menu, his fears abated. Leiko reappeared to take their order, staring a moment too long at Sakumo. He stared back. She would have looked exactly like Koharu, he thought, if Koharu ever decided to swallow a giant ball.

"Well who is this adorable third wheel?" She asked, her voice a little too high.

"This isn't a date, Leiko!" Koharu growled. Leiko merely flitted her wrist at her little sister, as if she had heard all this before.

"Sure, sure." She smiled, showing all her perfectly white teeth. They quickly gave their orders and Leiko walked away with a self-satisfied strut.

"You really can't swing a cat around this village without hitting one of your sisters, Koharu." Kagami teased.

Koharu kneaded the bridge of her nose. "Tell me about it."

"How many do you have?" Sakumo asked.

"Too many."

Sakumo leaned back thoughtfully. He had always secretly desired a sibling. Or more specifically a brother. Someone to share in his agonizing training with their grandfather or to help him cheer up their mother in her moments of melancholy. Just someone to talk to in the long winter nights and play with in the long summer days.

 _Much like you father, I have been granted more then one son._

He had tucked that interesting fact away for another time, but it suddenly resurfaced, conjuring a ghost in front of him. A son. A boy. A brother. He was wrapped in darkness, hidden by shadows, but if Sakumo concentrated hard enough he could conjure an image of an older brother. A boy almost identical to himself. Sharing the same frustrations of having the white hair of an old man.

The banter of Koharu and Kagami faded as the food arrived. All of them tucking gleefully into their steaming dishes. Sakumo chewed his meal thoughtfully. Swallowing slowly before speaking. "Does Tobirama have another son?"

The chopsticks halted at Koharu's lips at the same moment Kagami began to choke on a noodle.

"In a manner of speaking." Koharu answered, setting down her chopsticks. Kagami gave a nudge of warning, but she saw no reason to lie to the boy.

She continued. "His wife went into labor too early. She died. Her and the baby."

Slate black eyes widened slightly at the golden orbs that stared unblinkingly back. So Tobirama had lost two important people… the same as him.

Koharu refused to elaborate, allowing Kagami to change the subject.

"So have you been assigned to a team yet?" He asked quickly, his voice almost an octave higher.

"A team?" Sakumo questioned. "A team for what?"

Kagami's face slipped into an almost evil looking grin.

"You'll see," Koharu promised.

Sakumo did not have to wait very long. The following morning he awoke to Ryuu standing over his bed already dressed in his training gear.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

"I don't get it," Sakumo yawned as he followed Ryuu through the compound gates and towards the practice grounds. "Why do we need to be put in teams with a sensei? Isn't your family supposed to be the one to teach you all that stuff?"

Ryuu looked over his shoulder, jealously noting Sakumo's ability to look cool despite rolling straight out of bed. Why couldn't he get his hair that effortlessly messy?

He sighed. "Dad thinks its better that the clans come together to teach the next generation. It keeps the village unified if we all work together."

Sakumo chuckled, burying his hands deep into his pockets. His grandfather would have had a heart attack if he had known the extent of these clans' collaboration.

Ryuu stopped suddenly at the edge of the field where a girl with the curliest dark hair Sakumo had ever seen, sat on the ground reading a book. The girl looked up sharply at the sound of their arrival, closing her book with a snap.

"What the hell are you doing here Haruki?" Ryuu demanded.

"Obviously I've been assigned to the same team as you, stupid." She said, looking Ryuu up and down as if he were the dumbest thing she had seen since a fish on a leash.

Ryuu visibly cringed. "Kill me now."

Haruki flipped her hair away from her shoulders, turning her attention to Sakumo with the same dubious look.

"I've never see _you_ before," she snapped, clearly not sure what to make of him. Sakumo grimaced; he could already feel he wasn't going to like her.

"I'm Sakumo Hatake," He said extending a hand. She ignored it.

"I thought all prospective genin are supposed to go through the academy," she sniffed. "Did your parents pay someone to let you skip it or something?"

"No—I," Sakumo stuttered, feeling uncharacteristically flustered under her intense gaze. "I was told—"

"The kid is here on his own merit." A voice interrupted from behind. The trio turned to the newest member of the group who appeared before them in a casual flash of smoke.

"As are you two." The kunoichi stared fiercely down a long angled nose. "Or else I would not have agreed to waste my time on a team."

The three young students stared up at her blankly. She sighed, feeling a nerve twitch in her temple. "I am Toka Senju. There is no need for you to introduce yourselves as of now. If you somehow manage to pass my test today I may get around to learning your names later."

"But you already know my name." Ryuu interrupted. "Don't you?"

"Unless your name is The-Youngest-Senju-Brat Senju," Toka said testily. "Then no."

Haruki looked over smugly as the red-headed Senju deflated.

So this was another relative, Sakumo thought. The disdainful curve of her mouth reminded him a little too much of another Senju. He grimaced, before thinking better of it, fearing he had inherited the same trait.

"Uhm Toka-sensei," Haruki piped in, raising her hand rather obnoxiously high in the air. "You mentioned a test? I thought we already passed our exam for the Academy."

Sakumo thought he saw a vein enlarge on the right side of their sensei's temple. It was becoming clear they had not exactly endeared themselves to her.

Toka snorted. "A half-wit could pass that exam."

This time it was Haruki's turn to deflate and Ryuu watched with eyes that shone a little too bright.

"My test is meant to prove you have the skills to be a shinobi out in the real world."

"Is the test in the box, Toka-sensei?" Sakumo asked, his attention turning to an innocent enough looking box at her feet, which had begun to growl.

For the first time since they met, Toka's lips cracked into a smile. It was an unsettling sight. "That is correct, White-Haired-Student."

Opening the box, Toka-sensei kneeled down to pick up a yowling orange tomcat by the scruff of his neck.

The three young students stared back blankly.

"A ninneko?" Haruki asked uncertainly.

Toka shook her head. "Nope! Just an old tomcat I caught behind a fisherman's stall."

The orange tomcat protested loudly as she swung him by his scruff, revealing a missing fang. It's long claws winked sharply as it tried to swipe at their sensei. She ignored it, rummaging around in her pouch. The tinkling of a bell mixed with the furious growls of the cat as she held them both up.

"I don't get it." Ryuu said, his eyes wearily following the swiping motions of the feline. "What the hell are we supposed to do with it?"

"I'm inclined to believe, Youngest-Senju-Brat, that you have all of your father's impatience and none of his skills." Toka sighed as she tied the bell around that cat's neck.

Ryuu's face almost turned as red as his hair.

"I am giving you one hour to catch the bell on this cat. If you can't…" Toka shrugged. "Well then I'll have to kill it."

"What?!" Haruki shrieked. "But it hasn't done anything!"

Toka stared levelly at her only female student. "Since when has that ever mattered in the shinobi world?"

The three exchanged nervous glances, before Ryuu managed to return to a state of over confidence.

"It's just a stupid cat," he declared, puffing his chest out a little. "How hard can it be?"

At the end of the hour, the trio had gained several scratches, a fair amount of bruises and one broken toe—but no cat.

Ryuu looked near tears as Sakumo and Haruki fought to catch their breaths. All eyes were intensely focused on the cat, smugly licking its paw on a low hanging branch above them, ignorant of its bleak fate. The bell twinkled contemptuously around its neck.

"Please Toka-sensei," Ryuu pleaded, his voice little better then a whine. "Don't kill it!"

Toka appeared instantly at the cat's side, causing it to give a hideous hiss and scramble to the end of the branch. Instead of emulating their tactic of chasing it, she remained quietly where she sat. With a small clicking of her tongue she caught the cat's interest and it's small orange head swiveled curiously in her direction. Another moment and it began to move slowly towards her, it's whiskers twitching for any sign of a trap. She held out a hand as innocently as possible and the cat inched closer. In an instant she had two strong arms around its middle and it purred happily in her lap.

"And _that's_ the only way to catch a cat." She did not look up from scratching one pointed ear. "If you can't catch a simple tomcat then I can't imagine you capable of becoming lethal shinobi."

Sakumo felt a familiar heaviness settle in the pit of his stomach. He really was a hindrance—just as Tobirama thought. Absolutely useless!

"However…" Toka continued, releasing the cat. "Under my tutelage perhaps that will change."

"But—but," Haruki stuttered, her bottom lip trembling as she watched the tomcat stretch. "I thought you were going to kill it!"

Toka flashed a smile again. Sakumo was beginning to recognize it as a dangerous sign. "There are three things I wanted you to learn from this exercise." She held up three long fingers.

"One: a life is _always_ on the line when you are on a mission." A finger lowered.

"Two: a shinobi must be able to use guile just as skillfully as force." Another finger dropped.

"And three: Shinobi lie."

The cat jumped lightly from the branch to the ground in front of them and flashed them a wide, almost human-like grin.

"Stupid kittens." It laughed, holding its tale high as it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Heeeyyy," Ryuu said slowly, his mouth slightly open. "But you said the cat wasn't—umppf!"

Sakumo slapped a hand over his cousin's mouth before he managed to sound any more stupid.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

It took two days for Koharu's temper to cool and then another three to swallow her pride. Day five found her standing outside the door of her sensei's office, with clenched fists and a harrowing glare.

She let out a long, slow breath.

 _He knows you're just standing out here._

Then why doesn't he invite me in?

 _Because as inflexible as you are, Koharu, he is immovable_.

She would have to be the one to take the first step if she ever wanted to be assigned another mission. With a set jaw, she knocked twice.

"Enter."

Tobirama did not bother to look up as she came to stand in front of the desk. His hair almost completely shaded his eyes as he continued to scribble out a form. She forgot how young he looked without the happuri. Despite her clenched fist she resisted the desire to reach out a hand and brush the feathery eyes away from his brow. Although it was a rather easy urge to resist when you knew the fiery glare that was waiting for you from behind the innocent feathery bangs.

She cleared her throat. The scribbling stopped and he looked up.

"I can't decide if you have come to apologize or burn my office to the ground." His tone was steady, but that was no indication of his mood. The man could insure order with a whisper.

Her chin rose slightly. "That's because I haven't made up my mind yet."

"Let me make it easier for you," he offered in the same neutral tone. "Neither one will get you placed back on the mission roster."

And just like that, all the patience and understanding she had spent a full five days cultivating and conjuring into a worthy apology flew out the window. His eyes met hers with a look tailored for whining children, subordinates with excuses and the occasional scorned woman. Her mouth set in a hard line, prepared to do battle.

What she did not realize was Tobirama had been fuming over this far longer then she. The moment he had turned the corner to see her lying in that hospital bed, his mind had begun to whirl. Despite his better judgment, he had taught his most eager student the transportation jutsu that dangerously depleted her chakra. And in training her had failed to instill the gravity of her limitations. It was this failure that almost got her killed. It was his pride that almost lost her.

"I did not come here to apologize," she lied, resting her hands on her hips to keep them from fidgeting.

"You don't think you deserved to be pulled from the mission?" he asked simply, folding his arms as he leaned back in his seat. "You think I should have given you a pat on the back and let you go on your way after a week long stint in the hospital from an unsanctioned mission?"

"When it is put like that…"She protested, but Tobirama merely continued.

"I agreed to teach you my transportation jutsu because I thought you were smart enough to know your limitations. For your chakra amount, it was meant as a tool to transport you from eminent danger in a battle—certainly not for long distance travel." His tone grew colder with every word.

"Hiruzen and your little adventure could have just as easily ended with your death or Sakumo's if that jutsu had been executed incorrectly."

"Well it wasn't," she snapped. Her cheeks burned, her temples throbbed. She had not been lectured like this since she was a child.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed. That was not the tone to use with him.

Koharu's fingernails clawed into the calloused flesh of her palms, refocusing her emotional pain into a controllable, physical hurt.

With a deep breath she tried again. "What I mean is, I followed your instructions. I did not fail."

Tobirama did not react right away, regarding her for a long moment with no emotion on his pallid face.

He sees a child, of that she is certain—a little girl with aspirations but no shinobi pedigree.

"Hashirama thinks I am being too harsh on you." He finally said, turning his head toward a sunlit window. In the evening light, he almost looked like a petulant child.

"That was kind," she said off handedly. "Considering how I stormed his office."

It could have been another trick of the light, but perhaps there was a small upturn of his lips.

"I don't do this for my own amusement, Koharu." He sighed, garnet eyes shifting to stare directly at her. "It is my responsibility to ensure that your generation is better then mine. That my mistakes do not become yours."

She cocked her head slightly as the last remnants of her anger dissipated, replaced by the warmness she felt ever since she became his student. The man saw far horizons when most others barely looked beyond their front gate.

As a little girl she had wanted to wrap her arms tightly around him, to somehow capture the sense of safety he emanated. She thought that wonderful confidence could be hers if only she held on to him tightly enough. That innocent longing matured alongside her as she grew under his tutelage. Sometimes the desire almost felt violent in her chest when she looked at him. It had grown far beyond a childish need for reassurance; it was now a woman's need for acknowledgment.

Koharu opened her mouth to speak, to tell him she had grown-up. To tell him to look at her with the same lovely fierceness that she so obviously gazed up at him with. But fate did not allow it—

"Sensei," a voice rasped as a cloud of smoke engulfed the space between Tobirama and Koharu. She suddenly found herself staring at the armored backs of Hiruzen, Homura and Danzo. Homura turned slightly to incline his head to her, but his face was unreadable.

"We found them, sensei." It was Hiruzen's voice, unusually rough, that cut through the last remnants of smoke. "They're—"

"Dead," Danzo cut him off, his tone devoid of emotion as always.

"I suspected as much." Tobirama rose slowly from his chair, his feathery hair overshadowing garnet eyes.

"We'll go and make our report to the Hokage," Homura said softly, making to leave.

"No," Tobirama's head rose sharply. "I will tell him."

The trio nodded. Hiruzen stepped forward to place something on the desk. Koharu's eyes widened at the sight of a forehead protector covered in blood.

"I'm so sorry, sensei," the young Sarutobi whispered.

But Tobirama's attention remained entirely on the headband. "You are all dismissed."

Koharu was the last to leave, following on the heels of Homura. She was too much of a coward to stay and watch her sensei's shoulders shake.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

"I'll ask my dad to reassign us." Ryuu said, an air of hopefulness about him. "He could find us someone easier."

"If it seems easy, it probably means you're already dead," Sakumo yawned, unintentionally reciting one of his grandfather's favorite sayings.

Ryuu quirked an eyebrow. "This isn't the warring era anymore. Nobody dies on the battlefield these days, old man. Her methods are outdated!"

Sakumo and Ryuu returned to the compound in a numbing state of exhaustion. Mito and her daughter-in-law, watched their swaying approach with sympathy from the comfort of the porch.

"Mo-mo!"Tsunade shrieked, wriggling like a fish from her mother's grasp. Her short legs carried her with an ungraceful speed, tumbling her into Sakumo's knees. He tried not to wince, the cat scratches stung. Tsunade looked up at his hair in wide-eyed worship, raising her arms up to him in longing. The muscles in his arms protested every inch of the way, but he carefully lifted Tsunade up to settle on his hip, offering her unhindered access to his hair. Damp and sweaty though it was.

Ryuu slumped down next to his mother. She began to fuss over a scratch that still bled slightly down his neck.

Sakumo could not help but look upon the scene with a twinge of jealousy. Ignoring her protest, he returned Tsunade to the ground, intending to lick his wounds in the comfort of his bed.

"Sakumo." Mito's voice chimed like a bell in the large courtyard. He turned to her.

"I know you must certainly be tired, but would you mind fetching Tobirama for dinner. He would never leave that stuffy office if left to his own devices."

Ryuu frowned. "Can't you just send a servant to—" Whether on purpose or by accident, Mito's hand grazed a particularly deep scratch across his arm, interrupting his sentence with a pitiful howl.

Sakumo stiffened. He had managed to avoid Tobirama for a full five days and was hoping to continue evading the man's presence until one of them expired of old age.

It seemed Mito had other plans.

She gave him no room to protest, giving him simple directions to the hokage's office as she guided Ryuu into the house to clean his mostly superficial wounds.

Sakumo flexed his jaw in annoyance at Mito's obvious tactic. He did not appreciate the feeling of being cornered.

A surprised laugh burst out from the woman who remained sitting on the porch. Kaede, wasn't it? The wife of Ryuu's older brother and Tsunade's mother.

His startled expression must have appeared wholly offended, as her smile quickly returned to the usual stoic mask.

"Forgive me," she said, rubbing her swollen belly. "It's just…Lord Tobirama makes that expression all the time. It just caught me by surprise to see it on you."

Not sure what to say and even less certain how to feel about it, he merely sighed and turned away, gathering up the nerve to face his father.

Night pressed against the sun, bruising the sky with a vibrant sunset. Long shadows walked through the narrow streets of the village as lanterns were lit for the coming night. Sakumo had never seen so many people in one place before. There was a strange bustling in this place he had never witnessed in his own village, not even on their largest festival days. All these people made the air seem heavy. It made him long for the quiet sanctuary of the farm and the silent embrace of his mother.

His mother.

The though of her caused an invisible hand to wrap tightly around his throat, making it difficult to breath, difficult to see.

He turned down another narrow street as Mito had instructed, willing the tears to remain behind his lashes. The street was just as busy as the last. Shinobi and civilians alike making their way home or to the nearest sake shop. Yet amid all the dark heads and whirling shadows, Sakumo could make out a clear absence of color.

Tobirama strode towards him, his head bent over sheets of paper clamped tightly in his fist. People on the streets bowed their head in respect as he passed and though he never looked up, he somehow managed to expertly sidestep the carts and small children that riddled the uneven street.

The invisible hand released from Sakumo's throat, allowing him to breathe again. Was it because the man was his father that he felt such tremendous security or could every villager that walked past claim the same feeling? Would he ever be able to exude the same confidence in his height? The same pride even with his head bent? Would he ever walk down a street to heads bowed with such respect and gratitude?

Sakumo had not realized he had stopped in the middle of the street, until a body clipped his shoulder. He grumbled a curse and then another when he discovered he could no longer see the white-haired Senju before him.

"It's a little late for you to be out wandering the streets, Sakumo." Tobirama's voice cut clear and deep just over his shoulder. He reeled on his heel to find Tobirama, only a few feet away, still staring down at the papers in his hand.

Sakumo's eyes widened. How had he not noticed him walk past?

Noting the silence the white-haired Senju let the papers fall to his side, his full attention now on the boy.

"Lady Mito sent me to fetch you for dinner," Sakumo mumbled, pushing his hands deep into his pockets.

Tobirama rubbed a tired forefinger across his brow, sensing the same set up Sakumo had noticed. "I suppose Ryuu must have told her about our…exchange."

His voice was far softer then anything Sakumo had heard before. It was silvery. The words almost melting with exhaustion. And for the first time, Sakumo did not feel pushed away by the tone of his voice, but rather pulled in. He took a cautious step closer.

"I am sorry for calling your village stupid." He hadn't meant to say anything. Certainly hadn't meant to _apologize_ for anything. Yet the words tumbled out from his mouth in a jumble, trying to fill the cavernous space between them.

A rumble of thunder.

Sakumo looked up.

Not thunder. A chuckle!

It was low and tired and certainly did not reach the garnet eyes but for a moment there was less darkness around him.

"I have called it far worse." He sighed, eyes looking blearily down the long, narrow road that rose up to the lone stone face.

His attention snapped suddenly to Sakumo, considering him. "This was your first day on Team Toka, correct?"

Sakumo surprised, nodded. "We failed the bell test."

He winced. Another confession without meaning to!

Garnet eyes crinkled. Sakumo felt a hand press into his back, pushing him forward. With his mother this would have been intended as a gesture of comfort, but the little he knew about this man made it more likely this was simply a means of efficiency. They were standing in the middle of a crowded street after all.

The hand lifted. Sakumo did not like the way its absence bothered him.

"No one is meant to pass it on their first try." The same silvery voice. The same desire to move closer. "Hashirama broke his arm the first time he tried getting them from out father. Of course, the lesson was a little different back then."

Sakumo's head rose in interest. In the stories he had been told Hashirama was nothing short of a god. Surely, gods could not fail something as simple as a bell test.

Another thought struck him.

"Did you fail it too?"

Was there something human in this god as well?

Tobirama nodded with a small smile of remembrance. "I focused too much of my chakra on my sensory abilities—passed out from chakra exhaustion before I could get my hands around them."

Sakumo snorted in surprised delight.

The white-haired Senju lifted his head haughtily at the sound. "Of course I got it the second time around."

The boy raised an eyebrow—unimpressed.

It struck Tobirama in the strangest way how much Sakumo was like his mother. Kana had never been much impressed with him either. She had given him the same quirk of the eyebrow when he had tried to disappear into himself.

Tobirama grimaced. He had not meant to think about Kana. She reminded him of death. And death reminded him of the bloodied forehead protector in his pocket and the heartbreaking task that lay before him.

Tobirama had hoped the long walk would allow him time to plan. But his usually focused mind kept wandering to the boy at his side. There was potential to be found in the confidence of his steps, the attentive flicker in his eyes. The foundation had already been laid by his grandfather. Even Toka had grudgingly admitted in her report that 'despite the disadvantage of being a snot-nosed brat, he appeared highly capable, perhaps even possessing genius qualities.'

In order for the village to survive it would need strong shinobi. Now more then ever.

Tobirama cleared his throat. The boy's head jerked to attention. "It occurs to me that being on a three man team may not allow you to develop your skills as quickly as you would like."

Steel eyes widened. He had the boy's full attention.

He continued. "If you are willing to put in the work, I would consider instructing you in your techniques when my schedule allows."

The boy's eyes were now as wide as rice bowls.

"You mean you will train me?" Sakumo's voice went almost an octave higher, an unfortunate trait he must have learned from Ryuu.

"When my schedule allows." He reiterated.

Sakumo did not seem to hear. In fact, he appeared to bounce the rest of the way home.

Hashirama met them in the courtyard, seemingly relaxed and content with a cup of tea in hand. Tobirama glanced at the boy, staring at his uncle with an unfathomable expression.

"Sakumo." The boy turned to him, an eager soldier. "Run and tell Mito we will be in shortly."

Sakumo nodded, though it was clear by the flash of his eyes that he knew he was merely being dismissed.

Hashirama smiled at the boy's back.

"Every time I see him I expect my younger self to be trailing not far behind. The old poets were right, brother." Hashirama took a long sip of tea, the steam curling around his nose. "True immortality lies in out children."

Tobirama clenched the forehead protector tight in his hand.

His brother looked up at him expectantly. Still calm. Still content in these last few moments. Tobirama did not know if it was kindness or cruelty that forced his hand forward, raising the bloodied headband up like an offering.

"I'm so sorry, brother."


	4. Chapter 4

Katsuro Senju and his teammates were buried under an indifferent sun. The merciless rays beat down on the throngs of mourners come to grieve beside their hokage and his family.

Hashirama stood at the front of the large sea of black with a face of stone and hidden earthquakes. Mito stood dutifully to his right, a regal and composed exterior enclosing the savage mother who wished to tear at her hair and clothes. To cling to the coffin of her first born with breasts bared. Tobirama stood to the left, trying to ignore the trembling chakra signatures that permeated his senses. Even as he suppressed his chakra, the cries and moans felt amplified, the chakra around him erratic and angry.

His head throbbed.

A small sticky hand brushed across his temple to grab a white tendril of hair, unhindered by the usual happuri. Tobirama allowed Tsunade to slip into his arms as she precariously leaned out from her mother's trembling embrace. She was far too young to understand the unfamiliar language of her mother's wracked, wailing form. So she reached for the closest thing she did understand. Tobirama had a presence that did not shift like her parents or grandparents. He did not flail or cry or yell. He stood. Not even Sakumo could stand as still as him.

He let her dig her elbows into his chest and pull pudgy fingers through the tangle of his hair until she fell asleep to the familiar sound of his heartbeat. She slept with a toddler's certainty that her father would appear as he always did, waking her up from her nap with the usual wet kiss across her forehead.

Two figures were noticeably absent from the funeral.

Sakumo had wordlessly followed Tomo to the edge of the riverbank, where Ryuu sat with his back hunched to them and the rest of the world.

Tomo settled his pudgy body at the boy's feet, while Sakumo flopped into the grass beside him with all the grace of a rice sack.

Ryuu pulled his knees closer to his chest.

Sakumo sighed. Was it even his place to comfort Ryuu? Surely there was someone better, wiser, closer to console his cousin. He looked over the racing river in the hopes such a person would come walking over the horizon. No stranger to grief, he was surprised when Ryuu spoke first.

"We weren't even that close." Ryuu sniffed, swiping an angry palm across his cheek. "He was so much older then me and s—so boring!"

Sakumo watched his cousin's chest heave, his face contort. He remembered the same choking pain, the hand wrapped tight around his throat.

"H-he was always reading or training." There was another long soggy sniff. "Never had time for stupid, little me."

Sakumo swallowed. No one had ever instructed him on the delicate art of comforting another human being before. He opened his mouth to say something—anything.

But Ryuu was not quite finished.

"I just wanted it to be like Dad and Uncle Tobirama, you know?" He said, tears still shaking his voice.

Flustered by his own awkwardness, Sakumo laughed.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, as Ryuu frowned. "It's just—I mean I always wanted that too."

Ryuu had gone uncharacteristically quiet, forcing Sakumo to inelegantly fill the silence.

"In my village, they would tell stories of the Senju Bothers." He almost blushed remembering how enthralled he had been. Leaning in close with the other children, clinging to every word from the old storyteller's toothless lisp. "They would fight side by side not afraid of anything!"

Ryuu's laugh came out like a bark causing Tomo to raise his head, giving an unconvincing appearance of alertness.

"I don't mean like that." Ryuu looked almost delighted in their role-reversal of childishness. "I mean like how they always know what the other is thinking. How they balance each other. How they _need_ each other."

He petted Tomo thoughtfully, sounding like a stranger to the bewildered Sakumo. "I know dad would die for us—I do—but I honestly think he would die if anything happened to his brother. That's what I wanted to feel about Katsuro." He gave a long, painful heave. "Not whatever the hell this feeling is."

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Kagami volunteered to find the boys when their absence was noted, no longer able to stand the glances his clansmen exchanged as the Senju heir was buried. They looked like boney wolves smelling blood.

Finally, they thought, a weakness in the mighty Senju clan. A wound to Hashirama's legacy.

He grimaced. Talks of rebellion had been rumbling long before today, but never so boldly. Never so gleefully.

Kagami spotted his targets along the bank of the river with their heads close together in whispered conspiracy. It would have been adorable if it weren't so damn heartbreaking.

He took another step forward, intending to clear his throat to alert them to his presence, but Sakumo had already turned his head to meet him with expectant eyes.

The Uchiha was impressed. Most jonin level shinobi were unaware he was there until he allowed it. The boy may have more in common with his father then just that unnaturally white hair.

"Your family is looking for you," he said, nodding his head back towards the direction of the funeral.

Ryuu turned to look at him. His eyes were red and watery, but his stare was firm and determined. It was clear he had no interest in going.

Kagami sighed. And he thought the Uchiha were stubborn.

He came to sit on the other side of the red head, but that was the extent of his plan. The three sat in long, awkward silence with only the sound of the river and Tomo's wheezing to fill the void.

Surprisingly, it was Sakumo who spoke first. "Have you ever lost someone important to you, Kagami?"

If anyone else had asked him, he would have scoffed at the ridiculous question. He was a shinobi. He had lost many. But before the image of his parents or fallen comrades ever came to mind—there was Misa. Lying in a tomb of her own mind.

"Here's some advice, boys," he said, his voice gruff. "Don't dwell on the ones you've lost. Just hold tight to the ones you have."

The two younger boys shared a glance. They did not seem all that moved by his lofty words of wisdom.

As if merely thinking of her had conjured her from thin air, a delicate blonde appeared over the crest of the bank. She carried a large bouquet of white lilies in the crook of her arm as she walked determinedly past.

"Misa," he called, his voice a croak. She stopped at the sound of her name.

"Good morning, Mr. Kagami," She smiled politely. "Your order is ready at the shop whenever you would like to pick them up." She lifted the lilies in her hand. "I was just delivering these to a funeral."

Kagami did his best to smile, but it must have looked quite pained. "I'm afraid it's in the opposite direction Miss Misa."

The young woman blinked, a delicate rose blush appearing on her round cheeks. He hated the way her cornflower eyes clouded with confusion.

"I would be happy to show you the way," he offered against his better judgment. Her brow furrowed, taking a step back as he stood up. She may as well have punched him in the gut. Where once she had run giggling into his arms, she now could not even bare to walk alongside him.

"The boys and I were just heading there," he added, looking pointedly over at the silent pair. Perhaps sensing the delicate situation they rose to their feet without protest.

Misa looked the boys over carefully. They appeared small, almost vulnerable in their black mourning clothes. The voice of warning faded to a whisper in her head. She reluctantly nodded, no longer able to even recall where it was she was supposed to be going.

The crowd was still gathered, as the small group approached, an agitated sea of black. Ryuu hesitated as they moved closer to the front, spotting his father's tall figure. Noticing his cousin's hesitation, Sakumo's hand snaked out and grabbed the redhead's arm. Sakumo pulled him forward, not even looking back, though his hand held on came to stand beside his mother, though Mito did not appear to notice the arrival of her youngest son, her bright eyes shimmering as they stared unblinking over the coffin of her eldest.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Hiruzen sought out Koharu after the ceremony. She stood with her mother and sisters, a glassy look about her eyes that made it appear as if she was almost on the verge of tears.

He knew better then to think they were for Katsuro. More likely, it was the weeping of her mother and squabbling of her sisters that had brought tears of boredom to her tawny eyes.

"Come with me," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her swiftly past her protesting family. He stopped beneath a small grove of trees, checking that his sensei's attention was still on the coffin before relaxing.

Koharu pulled her arm from his grip, looking him over with impatient curiosity.

"Did you see his body?" Hiruzen asked, eyes cast in shadows.

"Who? Katsuro's?" Koharu snorted at the unexpected question. "Of course not!"

Hiruzen sighed. "Along with his multiple fatal wounds, he had a X slashed across his cheek."

The kunoichi inhaled a sharp intake of breath, struck by a memory of a woman bleeding and pleading with blood gushing down her cheek.

"You think it was the same man?" She asked sharply.

He nodded with a grimace.

"Did you tell Sensei?"

This time Hiruzen could not meet her eye. "I don't have enough evidence yet."

"Evidence?" She repeated in disbelief. "What more evidence do you need? Two members of the Senju clan were brutally murdered and branded by the same scar! What are you waiting for, the number to get to a hundred?"

"Only one of them was a member of the Senju clan. The woman was just a connection." He corrected, glancing up from his feet. Koharu reeled back as if she had been struck.

"Don't let Sakumo hear you say that," she warned.

The Sarutobi heir ran a frustrated hand through his tousled hair. "What I mean to say is the reason she was killed was because she had a connection to Tobirama-sensei. Which could mean any Senju or anyone linked to a Senju is fair game to this guy."

Koharu's eyes narrowed, suddenly guessing the reason for Hiruzen's reluctance to share his findings with their sensei. "You're afraid if you tell Tobirama-sensei, he will blame the Uchiha."

Hiruzen hesitated and then nodded. Team Tobirama worshiped their sensei. They would lay down their lives for him if he asked. But they were not blind to his faults.

"How do you know it's not them?" She asked.

Hiruzen shrugged. "I don't, but what if it's not. Could you stand by and watch Sensei play judge, jury and executioner?"

"I know I can't stand by and watch more of sensei's clan be slaughtered." She countered. They stared each other down for a long moment.

"Tobirama-sensei has cleared you for a mission, correct?" Hiruzen asked suddenly, his eyes alight.

"A scouting mission along the border of the Land of Stone," she answered begrudgingly.

"That's not so ridiculously far from Oshino." Hiruzen said, half to himself.

"From where?" She frowned at the unfamiliar name.

"That's the name of Sakumo's village. Oshino." He said, looking surprised that she didn't know.

"I wasn't there very long," she said tersely, her patience with Sarutobi waning. Hiruzen was worse then a professor, the way he rambled on, never hurried to get to the point.

"I mean you could reasonably stop in Oshino on your way back from the border without drawing suspicion."

"And why would I do that?" She demanded. "I just got back into sensei's good graces!"

"You have the sharpest eyes I know," Hiruzen said, voice thick with flattery. "Maybe you will find a clue I missed."

Koharu heaved a deep sigh of annoyance, about to tell Hiruzen exactly where he could stick his flattery when she noticed the black crowd around them begin to dissipate. Hiruzen glanced nervously past her shoulder, spotting his sensei and the rest of the Senju clan heading directly toward them.

The pair bowed their heads in respect and whispered words of consolation as Hashirama and Mito passed. Koharu could feel Tobirama's searing glance as if he could read every sin from the top of her head, but he continued on without a word to them, Tsunade still asleep in his arms.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

 **A few weeks later…**

"Our mission for today is to find Mr. Tamagashi's prized koi fish," Toka relayed, in the same commanding tone she used to send shinobi into battle.

Ryuu was, to no one's surprise, the first to protest. "A fish? How the hell did he lose a fish? And why the hell is that our problem?"

Sakumo and Haruki were equally annoyed, though they had the sense not to show it. This could hardly be considered a mission worthy of a shinobi's time. In fact, none of their recent missions could really be considered missions. Cleaning out old ladies' gardens, scrubbing shop windows, and organizing scrolls weren't ninja tasks they were chores.

Toka settled her hands on her hips. "Shinobi do not ask questions. They follow orders." Her tone said the rest. _End of discussion._

Their mission was located in the wealthier civilian quarter of the village. Large, impressive houses crowded together jostling to be the most impressive. It gave the area more an air of ridiculous pretentiousness, rather then the striking affluent look it was striving for.

Toka led them to the house that was, without a doubt, the most ostentatious of the lot.

Our entire village could have fit in here, Sakumo thought. And brought in their cows and horses to boot.

A maid answered the door demurely, leading them to a richly decorated drawing room where an empty fish bowl sat as the centerpiece.

The scene of the crime, Sakumo thought sardonically slipping his hands into his pockets.

"Thank the stars you are here!" A jovial voice boomed across the room. Toka was the only one who did not jump at the sudden appearance of what was by far the largest man Sakumo had ever seen. "I have been a nervous wreck worrying about my Kiki!"

Toka's students watched with uneasiness as the man pulled their sensei into a tight bear hug. Surely, now she would lose her patience with these stupid tasks and intervene on their behalf to the hokage. To their utter disbelief she pulled back from the embrace with a smile and a cheerful tone that her student's had not realized she possessed.

"We are at you service Mr. Tamagashi." She continued to smile.

"I can only hope you find her alive." He said breathlessly, his thick upper lip trembling.

Sakumo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It was generally understood by most intelligent beings that one empty fish bowl most certainly equaled one dead fish.

The smile remained unwavering on Toka's face. "We will certainly do out best, Mr. Tamagashi."

They took each room as a team, fanning out to each corner and then turning to confirm that no fish had been found. All this happening under the watchful, glassy eyes of Mr. Tamagashi.

It was Sakumo who put his foot down when told to search the cellar. "It would be physically impossible for a fish to live long enough to travel down two flights of stairs and three hallways to get to the cellar. You think it was that determined to get to the sake?!"

Again Toka's eerie smile did not falter. "That is where Mr. Tamagashi has asked us to look next and that is what we will do."

Predictably, there was no fish in the cellar.

Ryuu had taken to groaning as he flopped down under every single piece of furniture. Haruki dragged her feet across the floor and only showed interest when they began to search the library.

"I really doubt a fish got into the third chapter of The Tale of Genji, Haruki." Sakumo grumbled, his patience thinning with each new room. The young kunoichi snapped the book shut, dark eyes looking up at him with surprise.

"How do you know about The Tale of Genji?"

He blew a piece of hair from his eyes. "Just because I lived on a farm doesn't mean we were isolated from all of civilization."

"Oh," that earned a thin smile from her. "What made your family leave the farm?"

"Nothing," he answered, voice flat. "They were killed. I was brought here to live with my father."

"Is he a shinobi?" She prodded.

Toka's sharp command to move out spared him from answering.

"Haruki and I will take the bedrooms on the left. Ryuu and Sakumo will take the ones on the right."

By now Sakumo knew it was futile to point out the impossibility of a fish traveling up a set of stairs, so instead he followed Ryuu down the hallway in sullen silence.

Ryuu gave a low whistle. "And I thought our house was big. This place makes us look like peasants."

Sakumo grimaced, remembering the hovels he had seen in his village. "Hardly."

He walked carelessly into the next room, only to stop short, nearly causing Ryuu to collide into his back.

The room was not empty.

"Did you find it?" Ryuu asked, peering eagerly over his shoulder. His cousin's face fell when he spotted a girl sitting in the middle of the floor rather then a dead fish.

"Oh," he muttered, disappointed.

The girl's chin lifted, clearly affronted. "Servants are supposed to bow when entering the presence of a lady."

Ryuu's eyebrows lifted. Not even his mother could match this girl's imperious tone.

"We're shinobi not servants." He began to look around the room. "We're looking for a fish. You wouldn't have happened to see it would you?"

"Oh," the girl sighed, managing to sound bored and yet altogether too busy for such trivial matters. "You mean Kiki."

"Yep," Ryuu confirmed, obliviously lifting knick-knacks off a shelf.

"I buried it in the garden."

Ryuu froze. Sakumo's eyes snapped to the girl, suddenly interested.

She picked an invisible piece of lint from her sleeve. "Father refused to fire my maid, despite the obvious fact she is an idiot."

"You mean you killed it just because you were mad?" Ryuu asked in disbelief.

"It's only a stupid fish." She shrugged.

"Yeah a stupid fish we've had to spend all day looking for," Sakumo growled, interest replaced by irritation at the girl's privileged indifference.

The girl pouted. "That's hardly my problem."

Ryuu's face was slowly beginning to match his hair.

"Besides," she continued. "If my father did hire you, then you are in fact servants. So I don't see what gives you the right to complain."

"We are shinobi," Ryuu managed to say through gritted teeth, unused to being spoken to in such a belittling manner.

The girl's eyes leveled as her voice rose. "Like I said—a servant."

Ryuu's voice rose higher. "A shinobi!"

The yelling must have carried down the hall, drawing the rest of the team to the room.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Tamagashi demanded as he pushed his considerable frame through the doorway. "Dumpling, are you all right?"

"Oh daddy I'm sorry!" Tears appeared along the girl's wide lashes, giving her a beautiful tragic appearance. Her voice trembled. "I should have told you."

Her father was immediately at her side, moving with surprising speed for someone of his girth.

"Should have told me what, hummingbird?"

The girl allowed a few fat tears to fall before answering. "That I saw Lin kill the fish!"

"Lin?" He jerked back. "Our maid?"

She nodded her head. "I saw her pick it up and bury it in the garden. It was horrible, Daddy!"

Sakumo looked around the room, half expecting a round of applause to break out in response to such a stirring performance.

"That's not true!" Ryuu burst in with fury, thrashing an accusing finger in her direction. "She said she killed it!"

"Young man," Mr. Tamagashi thundered, straightening to his full bulging height. "I will not have anyone accuse my daughter of lying under my own roof!"

Ryuu flushed crimson. Mr. Tamagashi turned abruptly to their sensei. "I will see that your fee is paid, but I can assure you this incivility will be reported directly to Lord Hokage in our next meeting."

All three of her students turned to her, staring expectantly. Surely now she would…

"I am sure Lord First will appreciate hearing from you, Mr. Tamagashi." She said with a formal bow.

If a head could have exploded from the sheer absurdity of a situation, Ryuu's brains would have been decorating the interior of the room. Sakumo estimated it took a tremendous amount of willpower for Ryuu to hold onto his temper as far as the front stoop.

"WHAT THE HELL, TOKA-SENSEI!" He screeched with arms flailing. "No way that was a real mission!"

Toka gave him a long look over her shoulder, but continued walking away from the house. "If you have a complaint perhaps you should take it up with Lord First."

Ryuu's seething immediately stilled.

"Might want to get to him before Mr. Tamagashi," Haruki whispered unhelpfully, before running after their sensei.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

They were the last team to give their report, but instead of Hashirama at the large hokage desk, there sat Tobirama scratching away on a rather long and tedious looking form.

"Where's dad? Ryuu asked in lieu of a greeting. Tobirama looked up and any intention Ryuu had of complaining about the mission disappeared.

"Lord First is overseeing the new construction in the western district." He answered, compiling the paperwork together with an orderly snap. His attention turned to Toka. "I hesitate to ask, but I assume you have more papers for me?"

Toka's smile looked wicked as she held out a heavy stack in her hand. "The best part is Mr. Tamagashi would like to lodge a formal complaint."

Tobirama reluctantly accepted the report, reading through the papers at an alarming speed.

"This seems like a great deal of detail for a report that essentially says alive fish lost, dead fish found." He growled.

Toka shrugged, unapologetic. "Mr. Tamagashi is an important client. Figured I'd give it the works."

"Very well." Tobirama tossed the papers onto a pile that already looked close to toppling over. "You are dismissed."

Sakumo could hear Ryuu's stomach grumble as they turned to leave and he sympathized.

"Wait a moment, Sakumo." Tobirama's voice pulled him back.

Sakumo hesitated, before turning slowly back around. Had Tobirama found a way to blame him for this absurd mission? He looked at the white-haired shinobi, expecting his pallid face to be settled in its usual detached mask.

Instead, the older man yawned and stood, stretching his arms into the air over his head. Sakumo blinked in disbelief at the human-like display.

"Shall we begin your training?" Tobirama asked, walking past him and towards the door. Sakumo's mouth gaped open; the words slow to compute in his head. Tobirama waited expectantly at the door. Food, sleep and fish were all forgotten. He ran past him breathlessly. "Finally!"

He would soon come to regret his enthusiasm. His grandfather had been a brutal and unforgiving teacher. Even Toka was proving to be strict and unrelenting, but Tobirama's style made their training seem like a mother's kisses.

Sakumo stepped forward to the middle of the training ring as undaunted as a calf standing before a sacrificial alter. Tobirama stood before him with arms folded indifferently at his chest.

"You may begin." He commanded, his tone unhurried.

It didn't seem like a fair start. Sakumo hesitated—and the battle was over. The young shinobi found himself flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Tobirama stared pitilessly down at him before offering him a hand.

"A shinobi who hesitates is dead, Sakumo," he warned, his arms returning to their aloof position as he nodded for Sakumo to try again.

This time he did not hesitate.

Expertly forcing the chakra into his feet, he propelled forward with a speed that had often confounded his grandfather in their training. He pushed his fist forward with a triumphant certainty that it would connect with Tobirama's colorless right cheek.

Tobirama disappeared.

Sakumo stumbled, but just as his face was about to meet the dirt a strong hand yanked him by the collar, restoring his balance.

"How did you do that?" The young shinobi asked breathlessly, eyes wide. "Is it chakra control? Or a jutsu?"

Tobirama frowned. He had not taken on a student since training his first team—he had forgotten how unfocused opponents they could be. Sakumo's eagerness pushed him closer; Tobirama took a deliberate step back.

"Do you think your opponent will ever out right tell you their capabilities?" He asked dryly.

"The villain always does in stories," Sakumo shot back, flashing a grin.

Tobirama unimpressed, continued. "In the real world you will never know what you are up against. And by the time you do figure it out, it is probably already too late."

Sakumo shoved his hands into his pockets, thinking. He had seen shinobi move fast before, but those were simply quick reflexes—this was something else entirely. Sakumo lifted his hands from his pockets, setting his jaw and coiling his muscles.

There was only one way to find out.

Tobirama was unquestionably faster, but Sakumo had the advantage of size. Surely, he would be able to pivot far easier then the old man. Bolstered with a strategy, he initiated his attack.

Tobirama was ready, but Sakumo changed directions at the last moment leaving Tobirama to swipe through the air. He changed directions again, forcing Tobirama to extend his reach to land a punch. This left his side unprotected and Sakumo sped forward towards the opportunity—but Tobirama disappeared in a flash.

Sakumo expected it this time, twisting his torso to avoid the anticipated attack from behind. Once more Tobirama was forced to extend his reach, presenting another tantalizing opening—this was it! He balled his fist; certain it would connect this time only…

Tobirama was gone. As his fist collided with empty air, Sakumo looked up to see a shadow blocking the sun. Tobirama appeared above him in a flash. A foot collided into the small of his back, forcing him to the ground. Once more Sakumo gasped for breath, but this time it was mixed with the ragged rage of frustration. He had been so close!

Tobirama stood before him with arms folded and zero indication he had even broken a sweat. Sakumo felt like condemned man staring up at his executioner. He waited for the axe to fall.

"You have a great deal of potential, Sakumo." He finally spoke. "You are simply using it wrong."

Sakumo looked up at him in disbelief. There was that same silvery tone, deep and smooth. "I couldn't land a single punch," he protested, wiping sweat from his brow.

Tobirama gave a bark of laughter. "That doesn't mean anything. You have only been training for a few hours."

"I've been training my whole life!" Sakumo said indignantly.

There came a dismissive snort. "You were trained by a man who only knew one way to fight. Hatake was a large man in his youth. He used his muscles to his advantage and taught you to do the same. But you are not built for that style of fighting."

Sakumo lifted his chin indignantly, sensing where this was going. "Are you saying I will always be this short?!"

Garnet eyes warmed slightly and narrowed in amusement. "I am saying you have an aptitude for strategy and a talent for speed. Your height plays no factor in your abilities."

Sakumo frowned. He would have preferred a simple reassurance he would grow.

Rising to his feet he brushed the dirt from his pants as Tobirama glanced up at the sky.

"That's enough for today," he decided, turning toward the Senju compound. "It's been a long day."

"Don't remind me," Sakumo groaned, hurrying to keep up with him. "I don't want to see another fish for as long as I live."

Tobirama arched an eyebrow. "Did Toka inform you of who the Tamagashi family is?

Sakumo glanced up the taller man; an uneasy feeling in is stomach as if he had already failed a test he had not even known he had been given.

Tobirama continued. "They are a wealthy merchant family. Most likely the wealthiest in the Land of Fire. In return for the protection of the Hidden Leaf, they have turned the village into a thriving center of business and trade."

Sakumo found it hard to picture the simpering Mr. Tamagashi as the captain of industry Tobirama described. And said as much.

"Fumio Tamagashi is the younger brother of the head of the family. Fuyuki is the one in charge, though he lives in the capital of the Land of Fire. I suspect he has told Fumio to flex his muscles every once in a while, to remind us we are at his beck and call."

Sakumo blinked up at him in disbelief. He could not imagine Tobirama being at anyone's beck and call. And certainly never over a dead fish.

"People are made up of hidden motives the same as they are made up of flesh and bone, Sakumo." Tobirama said, his voice heavy with warning. "Know your opponents intentions before they can even name it and you will never be caught by surprise."

 _Caught by surprise…_ Tobirama said it as if that were the worst fate that could befall a person. Perhaps in his mind it was.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Three figures swayed in the mist like unholy apparitions.

Nervous instinct told Ami to forget the drying laundry and run into the hut where her grandmother sat basket weaving, but her legs would not move.

She stood helplessly as the shadows limped closer.

"There is someone up ahead." She heard one of them, a woman, say breathlessly.

The mist began to part, revealing three worn and weary faces. The woman was followed by two men, one sported a hastily bandaged head wound that oozed slightly. The trio stopped when they spotted Ami, though they did not seem especially surprised to see her there.

"What village is this?" The woman asked, managing to sound demanding and bone-tired all at once.

Ami blinked, then flushed.

"O—Oshino." She squeaked, unable to breathe under the woman's inscrutable gaze. The man without the head injury stepped forward with a grunt, elbowing the woman to the side.

"Kami, Koharu, you don't have a friendly bone in your body," He snapped, before turning to Ami with a smile that almost made her prefer the woman. She took a step back, suddenly noticing the headband they each wore.

"Shinobi," she whispered in horror. The man held up his hands innocently, still wearing the sickeningly sweet smile.

"Hey now! There's no reason to be scared, sweetheart. We're not going to hurt you."

A fresh memory of smoke and ash and a boy with beautiful swan feathered hair crashed across her frame.

"Liar!" She snarled. The two shinobi tensed, while the one with the head injury swayed.

"Ami, child, what's all this noise?" Her grandmother's voice croaked from the doorway. The comforting sound warmed her muscles, releasing them from their frozen fear and allowing her to run into the safety of her grandmother's considerable bosom.

"Good morning, Grandmother," The shinobi continued to smile. "Our apologies for the fright. We are only looking for a bit of shelter and medical assistance and then we will be on our way."

The old woman looked dubiously at the injured shinobi, whose head looked as if a blind man had bandaged it. With a sigh she stepped to the side to allow them in—there was just no fighting her nurturing nature.

It was Ami who refused to budge.

"You can't," she said desperately, the normally sweet face twisted in terror. "They could be the same shinobi that killed Sakumo and his family!"

The grandmother gave a sharp tsk. " Do not be ridiculous, child. That poor family perished from a fire."

Ami opened her mouth to protest, but the injured shinobi chose that instance to slump to ground in a dramatic faint.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Koharu studied the young girl as she tended to a pot of rice porridge. She appeared to be the same age as Sakumo. Perhaps they had even been playmates.

"Did no one ever teach you how to properly clean a wound in that fancy village of yours?" The old woman chided as she tended to Ken Haruno. Koharu looked at her teammate shiver, unconscious beneath the covers. It was difficult to summon any sympathy for him—it was his own stupidity that had gotten them in trouble in the first place.

"I'm afraid we are shinobi not medics, Grandmother." Koharu resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Shoichi Uchiha was nothing like his older cousin. Kagami was naturally warm and considerate where as Shoichi was so unnaturally pleasant and polite that she always felt as if she had been bathed in oil every time she was forced to converse with him.

"No reason you couldn't be both," the old woman muttered beneath her breath, putting the finishing touches on Ken's clean bandage.

Koharu's attention returned to the girl who was stirring the porridge with the same unblinking intensity as a monk reading a sacred scroll.

"You said a family was recently attacked by shinobi." Koharu tried, at last grabbing the young girl's attention. The grandmother also looked up, pursing her lips as if sucking on something sour.

"Not shinobi," the old woman growled. "A fire."

Koharu ignored her. The old woman reminded her a little too much of her own grandmother whose only purpose in life seemed to have been to tell her to sit still and be quiet.

"What did you see, Ami?"

The young girl looked hesitantly between her grandmother and the kunoichi. She gulped, before remembering a pair of warm, dark eyes and strong, determined hands pushing her to safety not so long ago. Sakumo's spirit deserved more than just a silly girl remembering it.

She took in a deep breath. "I brought flowers to their grave. I would bring them every day. I thought—"

"I told you to stay away from that place," her grandmother interrupted, indignant at being disobeyed. "I told you its haunted. I told you its—"

Koharu cut her off with an icy look. Ami continued.

"I thought I was alone up there, but a few days ago a man appeared. A shinobi with a forehead protector like yours appeared out of thin air."

Koharu frowned. Had Hiruzen gone back for some reason?

"When he saw me he thanked me for taking such good care of them. He said he was glad there was someone there to take care of his family."

The old woman snorted. "Such nonsense. Those three were the last Hatake in the world."

Ami shook her head furiously. "But there must be another one. He said he was Sakumo's uncle."

"What did he look like?" The kunoichi asked, ignoring Shoichi's baffled glare.

"He was shaved like a monk with a horrible scar on his cheek like an x. He told me that shinobi had come and destroyed them. He said that more would come that they would be like wolves pretending to be dogs."

Koharu felt her chest constrict. This girl was lucky to be alive.

"Would you be able to take me there?" She asked.

"Are you crazy?" Shoichi objected, leaping to his feet. "We're still on a mission. We don't have time to be chasing down peasant ghost story."

Koharu stood up as well, matching his height to Shoichi's chagrin. "As team leader I decide the parameters of the mission. Ken will need a few hours to gain his strength, it won't hurt to have a look."

Shoichi flopped back down onto the tatami mat. "The minute he's awake we are out of here," he warned. "Whether you're back or not."

Koharu smiled, but it chilled him to the bone. "I'll take my chances."

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Koharu had seen more death and destruction in her twenty years then most had seen in a lifetime. Yet, when she followed Ami into the clearing that used to be Sakumo's home, her heart broke. The last time she had been here there had been a distracting whirl of violence, blood and fire. Now there was only ashes and silence.

Ami wordlessly gravitated to three little headstones pocking awkwardly out of the ground like rotting teeth. Koharu moved next to her, glancing over the three names.

 _Hibiki Hatake_. A body sprawled on the ground with a warrior's heart that had finally given out.

 _Kana Hatake_. A beautiful woman with tears and blood streaming down her cheeks.

 _Sakumo Hatake_. A boy she prayed was safe at home.

She could not stand to look at his name very long. It felt like an ill omen. As if the empty grave was just patiently waiting for the boy to fill it.

"Where did you see the man?" She asked quickly, eager to be gone from this place.

Ami's head snapped up, jerked from her own thick thoughts.

"He was huddled in the house. In the part that didn't cave in from the fire." She moved suddenly towards the dilapidated home. "I'll show you."

The little girl crossed the crooked threshold before Koharu could pull her back, sharp eyes suddenly noticing the nearly invisible trip wire pulled taught across the doorframe.

"Ami! Stop!" She ordered, but it was too late.

The young girl stumbled and a flash of smoke filled the air.

Koharu took a powerful leap back, managing to drag the girl with her, as a figure began to emerge. A kunai was in her hand long before the man with the x-shaped scar stepped into the light.

An eerie smile played across his lips until he noticed Koharu and Ami. It fell into a disappointed frown.

"Oh for the love of…" He cursed under his breath, glowering at the pair.

Koharu's grip on her kunai tightened.

"You're not who I wanted at all!" He shouted accusingly. His voice was surprisingly high, like a child's on the verge of a tantrum.

"Who were you expecting?" Koharu growled, moving to put herself between the child and the obvious psychopath.

The man rolled his eyes as if it were obvious. "Well the boy of course! Do you think I'm stupid? I saw you ferry him away!"

Koharu did her best to seem relaxed—uncaring even. "You're wasting your time. The poor kid died from his injuries."

The eerie smile suddenly returned. "What a beautiful liar you are, Koharu Utatane."

She gave a start, heart leaping into throat. "How do you—."

"I know a lot, Koharu Utatane." He shrugged smugly. "For example, I know that Tobirama's son is alive and I know Hashirama's son is dead."

His head jerked suddenly as if he had a brilliant thought. "Do you think the Senju brothers would be upset if _you_ died?"

Ami shrieked as the man lunged towards them, a sword suddenly in hand. Koharu grunted as it clashed against her kunai, the weight of his attack pushing her backwards.

"I was hoping the little brat would return to pay his respects." He laughed as he leapt back to avoid Koharu's kunai slashing his chest. "Guess he doesn't care as mush as I thought he would."

He charged towards her again. Koharu widened her stance, knowing she couldn't move without exposing the little girl. The sword flashed in an arc, using the full weight of it's master to bare down on her head.

Koharu breathed serenely. This was a move she has seen before. Her hand flashed upward towards the sword, but instead of crossing steel it cut against delicate flesh and bone. Her opponent hissed and the sword clattered to the ground. Taking advantage of the moment, she swung her foot around to meet his chest, forcing him back with surprising strength.

He grimaced as he was forced to land on his healing leg. Why did all these leaf nin have to put up such a fight? His breathing grew heavy as his hands formed into seals.

This would take care of the bitch.

A thousand kunai appeared around him, held up by invisible string, patiently waiting for the order to attack.

The man's smile was maniacal. He had them!

With a flick of the wrist, the kunai descended on the helpless victims like a deadly rain. They died meekly without a word of protest. He smiled as he approached, prepared to brand them as he done with his previous victims. But as he bent to carve the kunoichi's porcelain cheek—the bodies disappeared with an irritating pop, replaced by two logs.

Koharu carried the shivering girl on her back as she raced towards the village.

"Shoichi!" She shouted as she skid gracelessly into the yard. He appeared in the doorway, leisurely finishing a rice ball.

"Took you long enough," he mumbled through a mouthful of rice.

"Grab Ken," she hissed frantically, Ami still on her back frozen in fear. The Uchiha, sensing the urgency, disappeared into the house. It did not take him long to Reappear with a pale, unconscious Ken on his back and the protesting grandma on his heel.

"What's going on?" She wailed. "What's happened?"

Koharu made a snap decision. "We're taking the girl. She'll be in danger if she stays."

"But—"

Koharu cut her off. "There isn't time. If a stranger appears, you never saw us!"

The leaf nin and her granddaughter were gone before the old woman could form another word.

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

Sakumo fond himself on his back for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon.

"You're improving," Tobirama said, lifting him back on his feet. Sakumo wondered if that was sarcasm.

Noticing the boy's dubious look, he sighed. "Sakumo, this village was not built in a day. These things take time."

The boy tapped his foot impatiently. "I've been training for weeks now and I haven't even managed to give you a scratch!"

"If a shinobi were measured by ego alone, you would be on par with the Sage of the Six Paths," Tobirama said wryly.

Sakumo flushed furiously. "I didn't mean—"

"I have been training since I could hold a kunai, Sakumo," he said, his tone suddenly serious. "My brothers and I grew up with a bounty on our heads that would have bought a small nation. We did not train because we wanted to be the best—we had to be or we died."

Sakumo knew he was being lectured. Knew he was being admonished for his Hatake pride, but he didn't mind. He savored every word, every second of attention.

Training with Tobirama was brutal. His muscles were sore, his eyes could not stay open and most days he looked like a walking bruise. But he was without a doubt the happiest kid in the world. This man—no this god—was his father! Perhaps he had not met his previous expectations of a father but that was when he been comparing him to other mortal men.

Sakumo brushed the dust from his pants and then settled into a fighting stance, ready for another round. He was beginning to understand his father's strategy, though he had not yet figured out how to counteract it. Tobirama would start out carefully, getting a feel for Sakumo's own stratagem, and then he would hold back. Punches would be restrained, his footwork would slow, his timing would be off. And Sakumo fell for it every time—thinking he finally had the advantage. And every time Sakumo would find himself on his back with the wind knocked out of him and Tobirama standing smugly over him.

Tobirama's eyes glinted in amusement as he faced the boy, but before he could initiate his attack a jonin appeared apologetically in front of him.

Sakumo was beginning to realize that it was Tobirama who ran the village in all but name. Messengers with problems and emergencies constantly interrupted training and yet they were all taken care of brilliantly. Tobirama never hesitated. Never faltered. He did not make mistakes. He did not fail.

"Lord Tobirama, you said to inform you as soon as Koharu Utatane returned with her team."

Tobirama nodded. "Have her wait in my office to report."

The jonin hesitated. "I think you will have to meet her in the hospital, sir. Apparently, they ran into some trouble in a little village called Oshino."

Tobirama stiffened. Sakumo's heart stopped.

The white-haired shinobi moved with the intention to instantly teleport to the hospital, but a hand caught the sash at his side.

"I'm coming with you," Sakumo said, clearly not asking permission.

"This doesn't concern you, Sakumo." He said, his voice level even as he pictured his only female student lying in a hospital bed. Again.

"Oshino is my village," Sakumo persisted, his eyes like steel. "What if she has information about the man who killed my family?"

Irritated by the delay, Tobirama had half a mind to just leave him in a flash of dust, but he doubted that would solve the problem. The boy was just pig-headed enough to show up at hospital right behind him.

"Hold very still," he ordered, resting his hands on the boy's small shoulders.

Sakumo blinked in disbelief. What had once been an open training field had suddenly transformed into a cramped hospital room.

Tobirama felt his shoulders relax upon seeing Koharu, uninjured, sitting on the windowsill.

There was a frightened squeak from the bed at their sudden appearance. He turned his attention to the small girl in the hospital bed staring up at him with eyes the size of an owl's.

"Ami!" Sakumo shouted in disbelief. The young girl went impossibly pale, her mouth ajar in terror.

"He's not dead, Ami." Koharu stepped in quickly, remembering the empty grave. "We brought him here to keep him safe. Just like you."

The girl's lower lip trembled, her wide eyes taking in every detail of Sakumo's bewildered face. She suddenly held out her arms, looking pathetically vulnerable in the large hospital bed.

In an instant Sakumo was there hugging her back.

"Don't go away again, okay?" She mumbled into his sweaty shirt. Sakumo looked down at her helplessly.

"Okay," he promised. And he really meant it.

Tobirama watched the scene with an unexpected irritation. He had not given much thought to Sakumo's life before he came to the Hidden Leaf. He would prefer to think the boy had been clay, brought to life by lightning at the gates of the village, but this girl was living proof that Sakumo had left behind a life of memories and connections. He was suddenly forced to see Kana, big and round and glowing as she protectively carried the boy within her for nine months. He saw Sakumo taking his first steps, forming his first words, learning his first jutsu. He felt cheated.

Another lifetime ago he had made plans for a little boy—he had been cheated out of fathering him too.

"Sensei," Koharu's voice cut like ice through his heated thoughts. "Could we speak outside?"

Tobirama glanced at the young pair, but they had no interest in anyone in the room but themselves. He reluctantly followed her into the hall.

"Your mission was in the Land of Stone border. How did you end up in Oshino?" He asked, secretly wondering if Koharu was on a one-woman mission to give him a heart attack.

Koharu grimaced. "We had to reroute. A scouting party caught wind of us."

"That doesn't explain the girl," Tobirama retorted, nodding his head toward the room.

Koharu suddenly looked reluctant to answer. Tobirama frowned; he had never known her to hesitate.

She explained everything to him in what felt like a single breath. Their suspicion. The burnt farm. The graves. The booby trap. The man with the x-crossed scar on his cheek.

Tobirama's gaze grew darker with every word. By the time she was able to pause and gasp for breath, Koharu found herself looking at a mask of false composure and eyes that flashed like summer lightning.

"You've certainly been busy, Koharu," he finally said, his words painfully clipped.

To Koharu's credit, she did not flinch.

"You could have come to me," he continued, tone cold and distinct though his garnet eyes had softened ever so slightly.

Koharu desperately wished that were true.

"He's after Sakumo, sensei," she said, her gaze steady. Daring him to take action. Daring him to protect his son, as any decent father would. It was the same look a little girl had given him years ago on the Academy training ground, when he had all but dismissed her as a potential student. It was a look that demanded he not fail her.

He sighed. Seeing her now, a full-grown woman, made him feel unbearably old.

"I will protect him, Koharu," he promised, more offended then he cared to admit to see her visibly relax at his words. Had she truly believed he would allow harm to come to the boy?

Tobirama sensed Sakumo before he appeared in the doorway, looking tired but happy.

"She's asleep," he explained, moving to stand beside Tobirama. The taller Senju stepped away in a motion too minute for Sakumo to notice, though Koharu's eyes narrowed.

"What did she tell you?" Koharu asked, though she well knew the answer.

"She said you were attacked by the man who killed my family." He answered, voice flat.

She opened her mouth, though she didn't know if she should be apologizing or comforting. Sakumo cut her off before she could speak, staring with cold detachment at his sire.

"Would you have told me if I hadn't insisted on coming?" He asked.

Tobirama met his offspring's flint stare with a level gaze of his own. "No."

AbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbAbA

 **Author's Note:** Thank you so much for the amazing response! I have been trying my best to give you guys the father/son moments you have all been asking for, but for some reason Koharu keeps butting into the plot and I find I can't stop writing about her! I'd like to apologize for not using any Japanese honorifics, my understanding of them are far too poor and I'm afraid it would be distracting.

I would also like to apologize for the ridiculous time it takes me to update, but thank you for the patience. Your reviews, especially the feedback, have been incredibly helpful and I can't wait to read what you think of the new chapter


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